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MISSIONARY ADVENTURES 

IN 

TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



LONDON : 

IRTNTED BY SPOTTTSWOODE AND CO. 
NEW-STREET SQUARE. 



MISSIONARY ADVENTURES 

IN 

TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



A PERSONAL NARRATIVE 

OF 

SIX YEARS' SOJOURN IN THOSE REGIONS. 



BY THE ABBE DOMENECIL 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH 

UNDER THE AUTHOR'S SUPERINTENDENCE, 




LONDON: 

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS, 

1858. 



TO 

HIS LOKDSHIP DK. ODIN 

BISHOP OF GALVESTON. 



My Lord, 

Although the number of Apostolic Labourers in our Lord's Vine- 
yard is very limited in the vast diocese over which your Lordship 
presides with so much zeal and self-denial, it has pleased Divine 
Providence to diminish still further this number already quite inade- 
quate to its wants. In some, physical strength has given way rather 
than moral energy — others have succumbed to their glorious suffer- 
ings — whilst others have been called away to labour in another part 
of that immense field, of which it is written : " The harvest is great, 
but the labourers are few." 

I was very young and inexperienced, my Lord, when I consecrated 
myself to this noble and laborious task ; and the fatigues and trials 
which everywhere accompany the missionary, have produced in me 
the saddest result. I had scarcely applied my hand to the work, 
when I felt that my frail constitution did not at all correspond to the 
promptings of my courage ; and, after five years' hard labour, my 
shattered health obliged me to return twice to the country of my 
birth to seek a remedy which I have not yet found. 

And now that Providence, through the instrumentality of medical 
science, has condemned me to a more sterile and quiet existence, the 
memory of those fine and interesting missions, to which I was sincerely 
attached, is deeply engraven on my heart, like a dream of happiness 
which one remembers with regret. 

a 3 



vi 



DEDICATION. 



Being thus incapacitated from labouring on the theatre of the 
missions which you have superintended with all the zeal and devoted- 
ness of an apostle for such a number of years, — no longer associated^ 
alas ! in that good work which has enlisted all my warmest sym- 
pathies, — destined never again to revisit those mixed populations 
which roam through the solitudes of the new world, shut out, in a great 
measure, from all spiritual help, I desire, my Lord, to unite myself at 
least in spirit to your holy enterprise, and to come to its aid (if I 
may be permitted to express myself thus) by proclaiming to the 
world your wants, your difficulties, and the touching details of your 
poverty. 

It seemed to me that a complete and thorough knowledge of the 
actual state of your mission could not fail to evoke the pious solici- 
tude and generous assistance of your brethren in Europe, and I there- 
fore decided on writing a journal of the five years' missionary life 
which I spent in Texas and Mexico. 

Permit me, my Lord, to inscribe your venerable name at the head 
of this work. 

Accept the assurance of profound respect with which I have the 
honour to be, my Lord, 

Your most humble and most obedient servant, 



Paris: March, 1857. 



Em. DOMENECH. 

Missionary Priest. 



PREFACE. 



It was never my intention to give publicity to the 
secret reminiscences of my missionary career. I love 
retirement, and a natural timidity of attracting public 
notice withheld me from publishing the ideas and 
feelings which accompanied me in all my wanderings 
over the boundless prairies of the new world, through 
its primeval forests, under the thatched roof of the 
emigrant's hut, and in the cabin of the Mexican. I 
was very young when I devoted myself to the Church 
militant of the missions, and I was well aware that im- 
pressions must have naturally crowded upon me at that 
time and assumed the character of circumstances which 
varied every day, Besides, I dreaded the opinions of 
those who measure men and things by the narrow rule 
of their own habits and prejudices, and who, therefore, 
form a very inaccurate notion of missions and mission- 
aries, never reflecting on their own arbitrary mode of 
viewing and judging, and seeming to forget that at 
Rome we should live as do the Romans, and that the 
most savage countries have their own usages, to which 
we must accommodate ourselves a little, whilst we 

A 4 



VIU 



PEEFACE. 



strive, at the same time, either to modify them some- 
what, or uproot them altogether. But in Paris, I had 
occasion to meet some of the leading men in literature 
and science, who pressed me to relate the story of my 
wanderings in Texas and Mexico ; they listened to the 
recital with a degree of interest which I dared not 
presume it merited, and pressed me to publish it in all 
its naive simplicity. In the hope that the publication 
might prove useful to the foreign missions, I yielded at 
length to their kind solicitations. 

I felt that, notwithstanding the interesting letters of 
missionaries which appear in The Annals of the Propa- 
gation of the Faith, the life of priests who consecrate 
themselves to the work of propagating the gospel, and 
introducing the blessings of civilisation among people 
steeped in barbarism and ignorance, is neither known 
nor adequately appreciated in Europe. The mission- 
aries, notwithstanding prodigious efforts of industry, 
devotedness, and courage, die amid the ice of the North, 
or on the sands of the desert, after having exhausted 
their strength in labouring for the moral, religious, and 
physical well-being of their fellow men, and this whilst 
their countrymen at home make no effectual efforts to 
aid them in this noble work, which causes the name of 
France to be blessed by every people and in every 
tongue ; for it cannot be denied that, although the work 
of the missions is universal and catholic above all, yet 
still it is pre-eminently French, and that nine-tenths of 
the missionary priests are Frenchmen. 

Pious people will ask, no doubt, are not the sums of 
money distributed through the missions by the Propa- 



PREFACE. 



ix 



gation of the Faith sufficient ? I answer no ; they are 
but the grain of mustard seed which grows into a great 
tree; whereas if the sums were proportionate to the 
greatness of the work, they would produce the most 
important and the most abundant results, and the life 
of the missionary would no longer be a continual 
struggle with the numberless imperative necessities 
which undermine his health in a short time, and which 
oblige him to exhaust, in providing for the commonest 
necessities of life, those energies which are barely suffi- 
cient to enable him to educate the people to whom he 
breaks the bread of life. 

In the first part of my journal, I have particularly in 
view to portray the missionary's private life, his internal 
struggles, his physical and moral sufferings. I do little 
more than notice in passing a variety of other subjects, 
which have but an indirect relation to his chequered and 
perilous existence. 

In the second part I confine myself to a description 
of the manners, customs, and peculiar habits of the 
American and Mexican populations that live on both 
banks of the Rio Grande. But although I limit myself 
to personal observation and to facts which occurred 
around me, still these observations and facts apply with 
equal force not only to all the new States of the Ame- 
rican Union, but also to its central and western pos- 
sessions. 

I cherish a fond hope that in my book will be dis- 
covered the impartial spirit of a man who recounts only 
what he has seen, heard, and felt, and that it will, on 
this account, attract the approving notice of all who 



X 



PKEFACE. 



relish the inelaborate recitals of truth. Like the violet, 
it possesses no other charm than the sweet perfume of 
truth — it may be too, that like the early spring flower 
its duration will be ephemeral; but of what conse- 
quence to a secluded and suffering being is the glory of 
the world ! No regret will accompany me into the calm 
of retirement should I only succeed in awaking in some 
generous souls a sentiment of pity and charity for those 
destitute Christian missions to which I have sacrificed 
the best years of my life — a sentiment which cannot 
in its nature be sterile, but must on the contrary be pro- 
ductive of the most abundant fruits, which will be no 
less delicious to the giver than to the receiver. 



CONTENTS, 



FIRST JOURNEY, 



CHAPTER I. 

The Departure. — A Mass on Board. — Reverie. — The Mississippi.-— 
Texas. — Its Inhabitants. — Various Forms of Worship. — History. 

— Galveston. — Houston. — Posting. — Episodes of the Excursion. 

— The Prairie. — The Panther. — A Storm. — A Mutiny. — The 
Electors and the Violinist. — Arrival at San Antonio de Bexar. — 
A Frenchman ..... Page 1 



CHAP. II. 

San Antonio. — Furnished Lodgings. — My Ordination. — Castro ville. 
. — Domestic Scenes. — Rattlesnakes. — A Crocodile Hunt. — The 
Church. — The Missionary. — The Missions — First Excursion. — 
A Quid pro quo . . . . , .37 



CHAP. III. 

An Alarm. — Scenes in the Wilderness. — The Camp of the Leona. — 
Expedition to Paso-del-Norte. — Steeple-chase on a wild Horse.-— 

Fredericksburg Ruins of the Spanish Missions. — Sunset. — 

The Camp of San Antonio. — A disagreeable Rencontre. — 
Braunfels . . . . . .69 



XII CONTENTS. 



CHAP. IV. 

The Cholera. — Scenes more frightful to behold than easy to describe. 
—A strong Remedy. — Rodriguez and his Sons. — Lynch Law. — 
Quarrel about a Hen. — A Fall. — How the longest Roads are 
sometimes the best and the shortest. — Melancholy. — A fishing 
Party, and an aquatic Excursion. — The Maniac of the Medina. — 
A Phantom . Page 94 



CHAP. V. 

The Indians. — Santa Anna. — A Tragedy. — The Comanches. — The 
Lipans. — A German Priest and the Red Skins. — Adventures of 
a Mexican Woman. Murder of four Colonists by the Indians. — 
Civilisation of the Indians Short Review of American Educa- 
tion. — Extreme Unction administered with Grease. — Camp 
Meetings. — Preachers in Petticoats . . .117 



CHAP. VI. 

A Project. — A Journey in the Prairies. — -A Night in the Tropics. 
— Chit-chat in the Woods. — Lavaca. — The Fate of a Coat. — A 
Jew in Reality but not so in Appearance. — Collecte. — Natchez. — 
Crevasses. — A Race along the Yellow River. — Return to Texas.— 
A melancholy Death. — The Future of a Missionary. — A prosy 
Voyage. — A Dinner not easy to eat. — A terrible Night. — A 
Tete-a-tete with Panthers. — - Arrival at San Antonio . 140 



CHAP. VII. 

Assassinations at San Antonio. — The Rangers. — A Party of Plea- 
sure. — A Threat not followed up. — • Too many Gourds, and not 
sufficient Food. — A Winter Night. — Christmas Eve. — How to 
build a fine Church at a cheap Rate. — An easy Victory. — 
Departure from Castroville. — My Farewell. — A Friend turned 
Enemy. — A pedestrian Journey through the Prairies. — Arrival 
in France ....... 175 



CONTENTS 



Xlll 



SECOND JOURNEY. 



CHAPTER I. 

A Visit to the Holy Father. — Return to America. — A rather diver- 
sified Voyage. — Descriptions of and Impressions thereupon. — 
Sermons on Board. — An imaginary Shipwreck. — The Brazos. — 
Isabella Point. — Brownsville. — New municipal Street-cutting 
Regulations. — Opinion of my Parishioners about the Mission- 
aries ....... Page 205 

CHAP. II. 

The Barilleros. — The Bar-room. — Fervour of Brownsville People. 
— State of American Society in general, and of Texian in parti- 
cular. — Application of Lynch Law. — Execution. Morality of 
the Civic Authorities. — The Sheriff. — Two Bloodhounds as 
Keepers of the Prison. — The Freemasons, and the Burial of an 
Irishman. — The Magistracy in the new States of the Union. — 
Partiality of the Judges. — Law Proceedings. — Elections. — A 
fashionable Doctor ...... 225 

CHAP. III. 

A Word of double meaning. — The Minister and his Three unmar- 
ried Daughters — A Renegade. — General and individual Liberty 
in the United States. — Democracy. — The Frontier Mexicans. — > 
Visit to Matamoros — Souvenirs of old Mexico — Mexican Life. — 
The Rancheros. — Troubadours. — Poesy of the People. —Religion 
of the Rancheros. — Religious Ceremonies at the Frontiers. — 
Marriage of the last Scion of the Montezumas . . 244 



xiv 



CONTENTS. 



CHAP. IV. 

A Tour of Observation. — ■ The Banks of the Rio Grande. — Reynosa. 
— Reynosa Vieja. — An Israelitish Bed-fellow. — Rio Grande 
City. — Projects. — Meeting a Rattlesnake. — Roma. — The Alamo. 
-—The Bathers. — Mier. — Embarrassing Presents. — A useful 
Apparition. — Departure from Roma. — Tete-a-tete with new 
Indians. — Camargo. — A Surprise. — Ranchero Marriage. — 
Spiritual Relationship. — The Aurora in a Wood . Page 262 

CHAP. V. 

A strong Man. — A Storm in the Woods. — A serious Fall. — A dis- 
agreeable Error. — Beginning of a long Fast. — A bad Night. — 
Critical Journey. — The Funeral Crosses.— -Rancho de laPalma. — 
Return to Brownsville. — A Confrere. — Sufferings. — Mourning. — 
Medicine among the Rancheros. — The Female Weepers. — Inter- 
ment of a converted Jew. — A well-spent Journey. — Cruel Separa- 
tion.— Duty of Friendship ....... 282 

CHAP. VI. 

Extraordinary Events. — Adventures of a European. — Derangement 
of a Creole. — ■ The Sect of the Vaudoux. — Dance in the midst of 
Serpents. — Sorceries. — The Pioneer. — Passion for Gambling. — 
History of my Guide. — The Honey Ants. — Wonderful Grotta. — ■ 
Secret of the Three Leaves. — Human Sacrifices of the ancient 

Mexicans. — A Village Savant An open air Mass, — Parable 

of the Hen and Chickens. — An unparalleled Desolation. — The 
Receiver-General of Brownsville .... 303 

CHAP. VII. 

Manta Trade. — Carvajal. — A War of Dealers. — Commencement of 

Hostilities Prudent Soldiers. — Am assailed with a Volley at 

a Distance of twenty Paces, — End of the Siege of Matainoros,— 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



Battle of Camargo. — Two Conquerors who do not doubt them- 
selves. — Prisoners of War Attempts to Escape. — History of a 

prudent General. — Condemnation. — Infliction of Death. — The 
Holy Viaticum. — Execution. — Return to Brownsville Page 327 

CHAP. VIII. 

A Masquerade. — Revenge of Avalos. — Comical Heroes. — Consola- 
tions. — Christmas. — Holy Week. — Captain Moses. — Toilette of 
the Ranchero. — Mouth of the Rio Grande. — Nocturnal Reverie 
at the Sea-side. — Bagdad. — Walk to Brazos Santiago. — Nuestra 
Senora de Guadalupe. — Project. — Remarks on Mexico, and the 
Invasions of the Yankees. — Adieus. — Departure. — Souvenirs 347 



JOUENAL 

KEPT IN 

TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



FIRST JOURNEY. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE DEPARTURE. A MASS ON BOARD. REVERIE. — THE MISSISSIPPI. 

— TEXAS. ITS INHABITANTS VARIOUS FORMS OF WORSHIP. — 

HISTORY. GALVESTON. HOUSTON. — POSTING. — EPISODES OF THE 

EXCURSION. THE PRAIRIE. — THE PANTHER. — A STORM. A 

MUTINY. THE ELECTORS AND THE VIOLINIST. — ARRIVAL AT SAN 

ANTONIO DE BEXAR. A FRENCHMAN. 

Towards the end of 1845, Dr. Odin, Vicar-apostolic of 
Texas, came to Lyons in search of missionary priests to 
minister to the spiritual wants of the rapidly-increasing 
colonies of Europeans which were then settling down 
in his diocese, and of the American and Mexican settle- 
ments of that vast region. 

The good bishop spoke with the glowing eloquence of 
the heart of those distant countries, and of the hosts of 
emigrants scattered through those solitudes, who would 
be doomed to pass their lives destitute of the aid and 
blessings of religion, if some zealous priests did not re- 

B 



2 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



solve to follow them through these mountains, forests, 
and plains. 

The pious prelate did not conceal from those who 
offered to accompany him the dangers and hardships, 
the sufferings and adventures of all sorts, which awaited 
the missionary in those countries. " You will not al- 
ways have," said he, " wherewith to satisfy the calls of 
hunger and thirst. Your journeyings will be incessant, 
through a country as yet but little known, and bound- 
less in its extent. You will pass nights on the damp 
ground, and entire days exposed to a burning sun. 
Perils of every kind you will encounter, which will try 
your courage and energy at every step." 

I was not quite twenty years of age at the time, nor 
had I entirely completed my ecclesiastical studies ; still, 
feeling myself urged forward by some invisible hand to- 
wards this unknown future of trials and sacrifices, I 
offered the Bishop of Texas my services, which were 
accepted. 

On the 20th of March, 1846, the "Elizabeth Ellen," 
a beautiful American frigate, left the port of Havre 
for New Orleans, conveying to the latter city a 
large number of German emigrants and a few mission- 
aries, myself among the number. The bishop had come 
to Havre to be present at our departure, and from the 
jetty gave us the episcopal benediction, which we all, on 
bended knees, received with deep feelings of reverence. 
Many a silent tear was shed as we bade farewell to our 
beloved country, for we felt that this perhaps would be 
a parting for ever ; and it is not to every man that such 
strength is given as will enable him, unmoved and 
unaffected, to sever all family ties and affections, to 
separate himself at once and for ever from friends and 



MASS ON BOARD. 



3 



kinsmen, and suddenly to renounce all his old habits 
and predictions. 

It was impossible to remain long on deck. The sea 
was agitated, the wind howled through the rigging, 
the storm raged around us, and sea-sickness — that 
most prosaic of all maladies — drove us to our cabins 
long before the French coast had disappeared from our 
sight. The storm obliged us to put in at Portsmouth ; 
but we started again on our journey with little delay, 
and in fifteen days afterwards we were in the tropics. 

During the voyage we had three deaths, three bap- 
tisms, and a marriage. But the most impressive cere- 
mony was a solemn high mass chanted on deck, on 
the first Sunday after Easter. The sky was without a 
cloud, the sea calm and unruffled. We erected our 
altar on the ship's poop, and, thanks to the offerings of 
the French ladies, our little chapel was as beautiful and 
graceful as a reposoir on the Fete-Dieu. Nearly all 
the passengers, on bended knees, and with deepest feel- 
ings of reverence, assisted at the celebration of the Di- 
vine mysteries. 

How ineffable are the sentiments and feelings, the 
crowding of heavenward thoughts and sweet consola- 
tions, which are evoked by the celebration of the Divine 
mysteries on the open sea ! Everything in the grand 
spectacle makes its way to the soul — the immensity 
of the heavens, the vastness of the ocean, the light 
breeze which plays through the rigging, the tiny waves 
which rise and fall without ceasing, the ambient air 
filled with sweet voices and mysterious murmurings, — . 
all proclaiming harmony and grandeur eternal, — Vox 
Domini super aquas. It is God's own eloquence speak- 
ing to the heart of man. 



4 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



During the evening of that bright day I lay in my 
berth at the stern of the ship contemplating the thou- 
sands of stars which shone above me. The silence of 
the night was only broken by the heavy, measured foot- 
fall of the officer of the watch ; and, as I gave way to 
reveries of a sad and mysterious charm, the past un- 
folded itself before me with all the trials that beset 
man's path in his pilgrimage through life. The future 
was as an horizon upon which brooded clouds and tem- 
pests. It seemed to me as though I had already suffered 
much. I, a youth of only twenty years, seemed to have 
arrived at that stage of life in which all the bounding 
joys of the heart die away, one after the other, in which 
hope has fled before us, and betaken herself to heaven, 
that happy land which draws alike to itself our last gaze 
and our fondest aspiration. It seemed as though I 
lacked time to accomplish the good which I had pro- 
jected ; and, feeling that I was between this human life 
and life immortal, as between sea and sky, I fell asleep, 
rocked by the waves and my own imagination. 

On the 11th of May, we came in sight of San Do- 
mingo, and for two days we coasted along its shores. 
Then along the shores of Cuba, diffusing the delicious 
odour of its orange groves. Then we had a passing 
glimpse of Jamaica. At length on the 24th the Missis- 
sippi came full in view. 

A steam-tug met us here to tow us up this celebrated 
river. Its waters are muddy; its banks flat, monotonous 
and half submerged towards the Gulf of Mexico, stretch 
along the horizon in endless prairies, with nothing to 
vary the dreary landscape, save here and there a 
clump of sallow trees; and a mortal ennui would 
devour you, but for an occasional alligator, which, 



THE MISSISSIPPI. 



5 



enjoying the luxuries of a bath, shows you, ever and 
anon, his prickly back. As you approach New Orleans, 
however, you see the tasteful residences of the planters, 
built on piles, and constructed of wooden planks and 
bricks. They are all of snowy whiteness, and sur- 
rounded by gardens of orange trees, altheas, and tropi- 
cal flowers. Hard by the planters' residences are ranged 
the cabins of the negroes. Plantations of sugar-cane 
and maize extend on both sides of the river. These are 
bounded in the distance by the Pine Woods and Virgin 
Forests. 

New Orleans is merely a city of trade and commerce, 
and presents few objects of attraction to the traveller. 
We made but a short stay here, and embarked again on 
board a steamer to ascend the river as far as St. Louis 
in the State of Missouri. Twelve hundred miles of the 
Mississippi were yet before me. Again appears the 
same flat country, lower than the river's level, and 
protected, by dint of labour, against its waters by ill- 
constructed earthen embankments. The forests have 
been cut down, and on the clearings grow maize, the 
cotton tree, and the sugar-cane. Here and there, 
half concealed by trees and flowers, are seen the trim 
houses of the planters ; sometimes, too, a low hill, on 
which is built a town or village, varies the scenery, but 
it is of rare occurrence, and affords little relief from 
the endless monotony. 

After passing Natchez, about four hundred miles 
above the river's mouth, you arrive at the Virgin 
Forests. Gradually approaching the Mississippi, they 
at length reach the water's edge, and extend along its 
banks to the mouth of the Ohio, seven hundred miles 
above Natchez. There the true Mississippi is seen in 



6 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



all its grandeur. The eatalpa, the cotton tree, the 
willow, the sallow tree, the oak, the sycamore, and 
the plane tree unite their branches and blend and 
harmonise their colours ; but their dark green foliage 
is ill-reflected in the yellow waters of the river. The bed 
of the Mississippi is immense. Sometimes, however, it 
is divided by woody islands, which impart to it a more 
cheering aspect. Often, too, large plantations of young 
trees, sprung from seed which the wind has scattered, 
display their blooming summits at different elevations, 
and form, as it were, gigantic banks of luxurious vege- 
tation. The silence of these deep solitudes, which have 
not as yet felt man's destructive hand, is only broken 
by the measured stroke of the steam engine, the clang of 
the bell of the watch, and the monotonous chant of the 
man heaving the lead. But the sounds are lost in space, 
for these wilds, old as the world itself, disdainfully 
refuse to send back any echo. No chattering of monkeys 
here, no chirping of birds ; for, let travellers say 
what they please, the United States possess neither 
parrots nor monkeys, except in cages ; and, indeed, 
singing birds are rare even in the primaBval forests. 
Just as you begin to be as weary of these immense 
forests as you were before of the boundless plains, you 
arrive at Cairo, a town consisting of two houses and a 
bridge of boats. The Americans readily give the 
name of town to the spot on which they intend to 
build one ; and this intention is so closely followed by 
its realisation that it may be fairly announced before- 
hand as a fact. 

From Cairo to St. Louis is a distance of two hundred 
miles. The banks of the river are elevated, picturesque, 
and in a high state of culture. It is a commercial 



CITY OF ST. LOUIS. 



1 



country, and lead is found in abundance on the Missouri 
side. From St. Louis the caravans set out for Santa-Fe, 
in New Mexico ; also the Trappers, so celebrated in 
American novels. From St. Louis, too, go forth the 
intrepid hunters who run down their rich-furred game 
in the vast prairies of the West, and even to the foot of 
the Rocky Mountains, where Indians are met with more 
frequently than peltries, and enemies in greater numbers 
than animals of the chase. St. Louis is a large city, and, 
like all American towns, its streets run at right angles to 
each other. Its pretty buildings, surrounded by gardens, 
have won for it the surname of Queen of the West. The 
environs, though well wooded, are somewhat monotonous. 
The climate is intensely hot in summer, but so cold in 
winter that at night I shivered with cold, notwithstand- 
ing my four blankets and buffalo hide, whose shaggy 
surface, moistened by my breath, was frozen into icicles. 
I must confess that I was a little disappointed. Later, 
indeed, my first impression has been but little modified 
by my travels in the North and East. Nature in America 
presents nothing new to the eye of the European traveller, 
even in the vegetable world. Nowhere in the West- 
ern hemisphere is she so picturesque as in Switzerland 
and the Pyrenees, so gay and charming as in Tuscany, 
the Romagna, and the two Sicilies, or so rich and varied 
as in Lombardy and France : her peculiar characteristic 
is vastness ; her rivers, forests, and woods are stupen- 
dous in their proportions, and above all in superficial 
extent. 

I remained two years in the Ecclesiastical College of 
St. Louis to finish my studies, and prepare for the 
apostolic life of the missions. At the end of that 
time, in May 1848, I descended the Mississippi to New 

- - - . B 4 



8 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Orleans, where I got on board the steamer for Galveston, 
the principal port of Texas, and the episcopal residence 
of this vast region. The passage is generally performed 
in two days, although the distance from the one city to 
the other is nearly five hundred miles. The Gulf of 
Mexico is subject to storms and tempests which render 
this trip very dangerous; and the greater number of 
steamers on this line have been lost, either by being 
dashed to pieces by the waves, or run aground on the 
oyster banks. 

When we reached the mouth of the Mississippi, no 
breeze ruffled the sea, yet it was heaving under the 
influence of some invisible power ; and in its sweeping 
undulations were reflected the sombre, bloodied tints 
of the sun which was setting behind mountains of 
murky vapour. Here and there the heavens were over- 
cast by enormous masses of clouds of crimson hue, the 
air was heavy and oppressive, and the waters of the 
ocean bore some resemblance to dark-brown, coagulated 
oil. A tempest was at hand. It came at last, and 
breaking over us with terrific violence, continued to 
rage with unabated fury till next morning at daybreak. 

On the morning of our arrival at Galveston, a swallow, 
which had been surprised by the last evening's tempest, 
took refuge in our ship. As soon as it made its appear- 
ance, the passengers vied with each other in their efforts 
to catch it. The poor bird, exhausted with fatigue, 
alighted on one of the ropes near me. I caught it without 
difficulty, caressed it, and as it was wet and trembling, 
warmed it in my bosom. The little creature's courage 
appeared to revive ; and I fancied that it was pleased with 
my attention, as it manifested no desire to escape. Ar- 
rived at Galveston, and apprehensive lest I might not 
succeed in preserving its life, I gave it its liberty, with 



TEXAS. 



9 



some regret. A regret which seemed to be participated 
in by the poor bird, which was quite unwilling to leave 
me. Although not naturally superstitious, yet in this 
simple incident I searched for some augury, which, 
however, my sterile imagination failed to suggest. 

Texas is an Indian word which signifies " a hunting 
ground abounding in game." Its superficial extent is 
about 120,000 square miles. It is bounded on the 
south by the Gulf of Mexico, on the east by the Sabina, 
which separates it from Louisiana, on the north by the 
Red River, the Arkansas, and the Indian Territory, on 
the north-west by New Mexico, and on the west by the 
Rio Grande, also called Rio del Norte or Rio Bravo. 
The inhabitants of this country increase so rapidly that 
it is impossible to state their exact number. In 
1848, the population was estimated at 400,000, inde- 
pendently of Indians, who have never suffered the census 
to be taken in their tribes. * I am inclined, however, 
to think that this number is an exaggeration. The 
Mexicans were then the most numerous, notwithstanding 
all that compilers of statistics have stated to the con- 
trary; next the Anglo-Americans, and then the Germans. 

The number of black slaves who work in the planta- 
tions is very considerable. Texas is divided into 117 
counties, including the three counties of Bexar, the two 
of Bosque, and the two of San Patricio, each of which has 
a capital or chief town. The majority of their capitals 
scarcely merit the name of village. The principal rivers 
are : on the west, the Rio Grande, which is navigable for 
more than 200 miles, the Nueces, the Rio Frio, and the 
San Antonio ; in the centre of the country, the Colorado 
and the Brazos ; on the east, the Trinity, the Meches, 
and the Sabina ; and on the north the Red River. Most 



10 



TEXAS AND MEXTCO- 



of these rivers are navigable only at their mouths. 
They receive innumerable tributaries, which irrigate 
and fertilise immense prairies. The bays of Galveston 
and Matagorda abound with fish. In the bay of Mata- 
gorda tortoises are found weighing more than 330 lbs., 
also sword fish measuring more than two yards in 
length, and sharks in abundance. The entire coast 
of Texas is formed of hills of fine white sand, of 
slight elevation ; between it and the sea is a line of 
long narrow islands and oyster banks, against which the 
waves lash themselves into foam. These islands are 
frequented by myriads of sea fowl, and especially by 
pelicans, some of which attain an enormous size. 

All the southern part of Texas extends to the sea in 
sandy plains and swamps, which, as they ascend towards 
the north, become more elevated, fertile, and undulating ; 
and are clothed with a rich herbage which supports vast 
herds of cattle, sheep, and horses. The mountains appear 
only in the north-west, as the advance sentinels of the 
Andes and the Rocky Mountains. The prairies are 
divided by forests which extend along the rivers. The 
most common trees are the cedar, the magnolia, the syca- 
more, the ebony, the mesquita, the sugar maple, the fir 
tree, the pacane, many varieties of the acacia, oaks, and 
palm trees, and others indigenous to hot climates. The 
cotton of Texas is superior to that of Louisiana. It is 
principally cultivated on the banks of the Brazos. The 
tobacco of Nacogdoches is said to be better than that 
of the United States. Maize grows everywhere, and 
the produce of the sugar-cane is more abundant than in 
Louisiana. The flora, though not rich, is varied. The 
nopal and all the many varieties of the cactus flourish 
here in abundance. Few discoveries have been made in 



FORMS OF WORSHIP. 



11 



mineralogy, and metallurgy is imperfectly understood. 
Silver, iron, and antimony, however, have been found in 
the country. The climate is very hot ; but it is tem- 
pered by regular breezes which come from the Gulf of 
Mexico, or down from the mountains. 

The forms of religious worship in Texas are many. 
The Mexicans and Indo-Mexicans are Catholics ; for 
want of proper instruction, however, the religion of the 
great majority is very superficial, the great truths 
of the faith are overlooked, and the most essential 
duties of a Christian neglected. They greatly need en- 
lightened guides to direct their steps to the pure light 
of true Christianity, and would be readily led by them ; 
for, in all matters appertaining to religion they a.re 
sincere, childlike in simplicity, and lend a docile ear 
to the teachings of the priest. The Creoles, also, who 
are not a numerous body in Texas, profess the Catholic 
faith. Among the Anglo-Americans, methodism and 
presbyterianism prevail. Episcopalians, baptists, qua- 
kers, and anabaptists are not at all numerous ; and the 
mormons have but one establishment in the north-east. 
As to the Indians, the religion varies with the tribe ; and 
it is not easy to furnish correct details, as the only infor- 
mation we have respecting their religious worship comes 
to us from prisoners who have escaped, and in them im- 
plicit faith should not be placed. The Comanches wor- 
ship the Sun and the Light, are very superstitious, and 
their priests or prophets give them amulets which preserve 
them, as they say, from every danger from man and beast. 
Their priests are physicians, and employ the simplest and 
most effectual means of becoming prophets. During 
the night, wrapped in long white dresses, they run on 
foot, or fly on horseback across the prairies, to recon- 



12 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



noitre the moving caravans, with a view of ascertaining 
the direction they take, and of counting the number of 
travellers. In the day time, disguised in a thousand 
different ways, they penetrate into towns and cities to 
spy about, and take observations. On their return, they 
deliver in the most solemn manner, as the revelations 
of the Spirit, certain indications which experience sub- 
sequently proves to be correct. The other Indians 
supplicate the Great Spirit, whom they place in heaven, 
whence he extends his protection to them. All they 
ask is, that he would send them great success in the 
chase, and rich booty in pillage. 

The stationary tribes do not bury their dead, but 
heap branches of trees and earth on the bodies to 
protect them from wolves and other wild animals. The 
bodies are heaped promiscuously one over the other, so 
that, should the tribe remain for any considerable time 
in the same place, the pile assumes the form of mounds 
or hillocks of dead, which the whites call an Indian 
Mount. The Lipans, on the contrary, and other wander- 
ing tribes, bury their dead here and there in trenches, 
generally in the depths of the woods and thickets. 
They conceal the body under alternate layers of 
earth and branches, then cover the grave with green- 
sward, and over it interlace the boughs of trees in 
the most graceful manner, thus forming a kind of 
rustic vault, which serves to shelter and protect the 
lonely tomb. Notwithstanding the minute historical 
researches I have instituted, with a view of discovering 
the origin of the first inhabitants of Texas, and the 
first European establishments in these countries, I have 
failed in collecting any exact information as to events 
which occurred prior to the seventeenth century. 



FORMS OF WORSHIP. 



13 



Historians are either entirely silent as to the points de de- 
part, the degrees and the distance, or dismiss the subject 
Avith a few vague and unsatisfactory indications. The 
name of the country, as well as the name of its tribes 
and rivers, has been changed. At the beginning of 
the Christian era, a colony of Fultecs seems to have 
settled on the banks of the Rio-Grande. Historians 
have often made mention of this powerful tribe ; but 
without any authority whatever, for it left no other 
trace of its existence than a vague tradition. The 
Toltecs, before their emigration into Mexico in the 
seventeenth century, had inhabited the north-western 
part of Texas, between the Rio-Grande, the Red River, 
and the southern portion of New Mexico. This tribe, 
the most ancient of all those of which we have any 
knowledge, subjected Mexico to its laws, and had some 
idea of the sciences and the useful arts. The spirit 
of their laws was mild, their customs characterised 
by benevolence, their religion an imperfect imita- 
tion of Catholicism. They cultivated maize, and knew 
the use of chocolate ; and cacao nuts served them as 
money. There can be no doubt that that part of Texas 
which is so much frequented at the present day by the 
Comanches, and more particularly the banks of the 
Colorado, was peopled by the Aztecs at the beginning 
of the twelfth century, that is, before one of their 
chiefs, called Huitziton, led them to the conquest of 
Mexico. This was a work of no small labour, and 
was not accomplished until towards the middle of the 
thirteenth century. At that epoch the Aztecs completely 
destroyed the work of the Toltecs, extended their empire, 
and instituted the sacrificing of human victims, which 
increased so fearfully during the sixteenth century. 



14 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



This mighty empire fell, as all know, in 1521, with 
Quauhtemozin, their last monarch. There is no re- 
semblance whatever between the Aztecs, a brave, 
spirited race of men, tall, well proportioned and vi- 
gorous, and the two pretended Aztecs, who were 
lately exhibited in Europe ; nor have they anything in 
common with the brave adversaries of Fernando Cortes, 
save the name, which has been given them without 
any historic grounds. I am disposed to believe that 
if the pure Aztec blood exists at the present day, 
it runs in the veins of the Comanches. The Aztecs 
were idolaters. They adored no living creature, as 
some historians state: the objects of their worship were 
various idols. The Otonites were a great and widely- 
spread nation in the sixteenth century. They inhabited 
a large territory, which stretches along the borders of 
the Gulf of Mexico, and extends far inland from the 
province of Panuco to Nueces. The Otonites were 
idolaters, and rose frequently in arms against their 
Mexican conquerors. There is a hiatus, both in history 
and tradition, after the emigration of these great tribes, 
whicn no research has been able to supply. The wan- 
dering tribes gradually overspread these deserted re- 
gions. Intestine broils, and the custom of massacring 
prisoners, by degrees swept multitudes of these minor 
nations from the face of the earth. Then came the 
Spaniards, who, during the first years of their conquest, 
destroyed many millions of Indians by fire and sword. 
The most thickly-inhabited countries suffered most in 
this thirst for carnage, which we should regard as fabu- 
lous, had not its truth been guaranteed by the authority 
of the most distinguished historian of the sixteenth 
century. In the history of Las Casas, which was 



HISTORY. 



15 



published, despite the command of Philip II., we read 
that during the first twelve years of the invasion " the 
Spaniards devastated by fire, sword, and lance, 450 leagues 
of country, massacring men, women, and children." 

Before the year 1525, Sebastian Cabot explored the 
Texian coasts, but did not penetrate into the interior 
of the country. The first of all the Spanish navigators 
who made an incursion into Texas, is another and no 
less celebrated adventurer, Stephen Gomez, who set 
out from Florida at the commencement of the year 
1524, and sailed along the coasts north of the Gulf of 
Mexico, with a view to the discovery of a strait which 
might afford him a passage to the Pacific. Disappointed 
in his expectation, he landed on the San- Antonio side, 
and carried on board his ship some Indians, whom he had 
captured on these coasts. At a later period, in 1527, 
the famous Pamfila de Narvaez being made adelantado, or 
governor, landed at the mouth of the Las Palmas, in the 
province of Panuco, near Tampico. He had with him 
nine ships, six hundred Spaniards, one hundred horses, 
and an abundant stock of provisions. He then shaped 
his course towards Texas proper, with the intention 
of conquering and peopling it. But this expedition 
failed. 

The Spaniards divided themselves into two parties, 
one of which followed the sea-coast in their march 
northward ; three hundred others explored the Costa- 
Deserta, on the left bank of the Kio-Grande. The 
latter suffered so much from sickness, and the severity 
of the climate, that a few survivors, with great difficulty, 
reached the ships again. " These," says the Chronicle, 
u were scattered here and there, naked and famished 
with hunger, for the space of nine years, wandering 



16 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



through cities and plains, where they cured many 
Indians of fever, and some too who were lame and 
wounded." The historians of the sixteenth century relate 
that, about this epoch (they fix no date), a certain 
doctor, Gonzales Jimenes, crossed the Rio-Grande and 
arrived at Santa Fe, where he received from the king 
a present of some very large emeralds ; this induced 
him to set out in search of mines of these precious stones. 
He traversed an arid region covered with stones, and 
inhabited by a miserable race called Pances. These 
Pances, like the Carribees, poisoned their arrows with the 
juice of an herb, and their wives followed them to battle, 
carrying with them their little idols as protectors. It is 
probable that the Rio-Grande of which mention is made 
here, was not the Rio-Grande of Texas, and that this 
Santa Fe was not the capital of New Mexico, for the 
Spaniards had not as yet penetrated so far northward ; 
nor is any mine of emeralds found in these countries. 
Besides, this Doctor Jimenes had been the lieutenant 
and friend of Don Pedro de Lugo, adelantado of New 
Granada ; it must have been to Santa Fe de Bogota that 
he repaired, in ascending the Oronoco, or rather the 
Magdelena, which passes near Santa Fe. 

So early as the sixteenth century a marked difference 
was observed between the Indians of Texas and those of 
the other parts of the West Indies, as regards manners 
and customs. The tribes of Texas became more and 
more nomad ; they built no towns as their ancestors did, 
and worshipped the Sun, Moon, and Elements, rather 
than idols. The Indians of Mexico, and of almost all the 
West Indies, went naked, and rarely wore ornaments of 
feathers or of tissue ; married women wore a girdle 
of the bark of trees ingeniously wrought, while young 



HISTORY AND CUSTOMS. 



17 



unmarried females wore cinctures of goat or deer skin. 
In Texas, on the contrary, men and women were 
clothed in painted and speckled kid-skins, so fine in 
quality and so perfumed that the Spaniards were lost 
in amazement at beholding them. The cloak was 
wrought of the fibre of the agavo, and the hat was very 
ample in its proportions ; but this latter article of dress 
was not in general use. Marriage ceremonies in 
Texas also differed widely from those of Mexico. In 
Texas the bride was borne on the back of a woman 
escorted by four matrons, before sunrise, to the thres- 
hold of the bridegroom. Here the latter received her, 
conducted her into his cabin, placed her on a mat 
spread on the ground, and took his place opposite 
her. The couple were then fastened together by the 
skirts of their dresses, in the presence of two old men 
and two matrons, who taking their seats at different 
sides attended the ceremony as witnesses. Noma 
Nopal wood was burned in honour of their divinities. 
The bride and bridegroom then supped together, 
and afterwards the guests. Supper over, their dresses 
were untied, and the laws of marriage propounded to 
them. In the provinces of Panuco and Acapulco these 
ceremonies were accompanied, in accordance with extra- 
vagant customs, with sacrifices to Tealloc, the god of 
waters, and to Ometochtli, god of wine. 

The Spaniards had no establishment in Texas until 
the end of the seventeenth century ; but a Frenchman, 
De la Sale, was the first to settle down there. This 
intrepid navigator, who for the love of science and the 
glory of his country twice crossed the North American 
continent, undertook a third voyage with a view of 
discovering the mouth of the Mississippi, then called 

c 



18 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the Colbert. He sailed from La Rochelle on the 24th of 
July, 1684, in a ship of war of forty guns, accompanied 
by three other vessels, with two hundred and eighty 
souls on board, including crews, soldiers, and workmen, 
to form settlements. After encountering many hard- 
ships in every shape, he arrived on the 10th of Ja- 
nuary, 1685, at the mouth of the Mississippi, which, 
however, he did not recognise. He then beat about until 
March of the same year, and cast anchor in the Bay of 
Matagora, to which he gave the name of St. Louis. 
With trees, and the wreck of one of his vessels which 
had grounded, he built a fort on the south of the County 
of Calhoun, between the Bays of Matagora and Espiritu- 
Santo. To this settlement he gave the same name as the 
bay, in honour of Louis XI V., the then reigning mo- 
narch. The following year, De la Sale made an in- 
cursion into the interior of the country, and crossed the 
Colorado. This river, which the Spaniards called Rio 
de Oro, he named la Madeleine. From the circumstance 
of his servant being carried off by a crocodile in crossing 
the Guadalupe, a river also unknown to him, he called 
it la Maline. He also passed over the San Antonio, to 
which he gave the name la Sablonniere. During this 
journey he fell in with many tribes of Indians, who 
exercised towards him all the rights of hospitality, and 
made exchanges of wares with him. The country ap- 
pearing to him admirably adapted for the establishment 
of an important settlement, he returned to Fort St. 
Louis, and made a second excursion with his followers 
at the commencement of the next year ; but by the 
haughty bearing of their commander and the fatigues of 
the journey, the dark passions of his people were excited 
against him, and he perished by their hands on the 19th 
of March, 1687. 



HISTORY. 



19 



The Indians by this time had modified their manners, 
customs, and usages, although these modifications could 
not have been very considerable. Many tribes were 
extinct, or had changed their names by incorporation 
with other tribes : and at the present day there exists 
no trace of the Nachitos, the Natsohos, the Cenis, the 
Tecamenes, the Meghai, the Omeaosse, and many other 
nations, save the funereal mounds where their bones 
repose in the deep silence of oblivion. 

In 1698, the garrison of San Antonio de Bexar was 
founded, in all probability, by the adelantado of the 
province of Monterey. Bahia, near Soliad, was esta- 
blished in 1716. The settlement of Xacogdoches, on 
the frontiers of Louisiana, does not date further back 
than the year 1732. The precise period at which the 
Spanish establishments or missions of San Jose, Con- 
cepcion, San Saba, Victoria, and Refugio were founded, 
is not well ascertained ; still I think the date is more 
recent than those just mentioned. The missions may 
have been originally Haciendas, or at least constructed 
on their models. These haciendas, a species of fief or 
fortified inclosed domain, within whose precincts there 
was also a chapel or church, were founded by the 
Spanish conquerors. The Indians, who by right of 
conquest became vassals, had their huts outside the 
haciendas, and built against the walls. At a later 
period, when the missions contained prisoners of 
war, with whose education the Spanish monks were 
specially charged, the Indian habitations were brought 
within the walls. After the death of the conquerors, 
the greater part of the haciendas were abandoned, and 
the labour of the Indians being emancipated by virtue 
of new and protecting laws, these fiefs became the pro- 

c 2 



20 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



perty of the Crown of Spain and were ceded to the 
Church. The modern history of Texas may be related 
in a few lines. It was at Galveston that, in 1817, 
General Lallemand purposed establishing the Champ 
(TAsile. In 1820, the Spanish government accorded 
great privileges to an American, named Moses Austin, 
on condition that he should introduce emigrants into the 
country and till the soil. Moses died before he was 
able to fulfil his promise, but his son Stephen arrived 
with the first body of emigrants in 1821. At this date 
was promulgated the Plan de Ignala, which caused a 
separation between the mother country and Mexico ; and 
the crown was transferred to the brow of the Creole 
general, Augustine Iturbide, who caused himself to be 
proclaimed emperor. In 1824 the empire became a 
republic ; new laws favoured the colonisation of Texas, 
and this province was united to that of Cohahuila. But 
the inhabitants of Cohahuila, jealous of the prosperity 
and favour which the Texians enjoyed, allowed no op- 
portunity to pass without involving them in quarrels 
and disputes ; and in 1830 the American colonists, who 
numbered 30,000, demanded a separation. The Mexican 
government, on its side, had it in contemplation to fall 
back on the protecting laws of 1824. In this emergency 
Stephen Austin set out in 1833 for Mexico, to plead the 
cause of his colony ; but having failed in his projects, 
advised his friends to withdraw from Cohahuila. He 
returned to Texas, but was arrested in February, 1834, 
and thrown into prison for five months. This act 
aroused the indignation of the Texians to such a degree 
that they resolved on proclaiming not merely the sepa- 
ration of Texas from Mexico, but the independence of the 
former territory. The revolution, effected by Santa 



HISTORF. 



21 



Anna in 1835, furnished them with a favourable oppor- 
tunity, of which they were not slow to avail themselves. 
On his appointment to the presidency, Santa Anna dis- 
missed the federal authorities, abolished the indepen- 
dence of the confederated states, and declared them pro- 
vinces of the Central Mexican Republic. The legislators 
of the different states were constrained to yield in pre- 
sence of a greater force : Texas alone dared to offer 
resistance. Santa Anna moved towards Texas to crush 
the opposition ; the Texians replied to his menaces by 
an appeal to arms, and hostilities commenced in Sep- 
tember, 1835. On the 11th of December of the same 
year was fought the battle which gave San Antonio de 
Bexar to the Texians. In the month of February of the 
following year, Santa Anna entered Texas at the head of 
6000 or 8000 men, and after many successes, he was at 
last completely defeated and made prisoner in a desperate 
engagement, which was fought on the 21st of April, 
182^, on the banks of the San Jacinto. The indepen- 
dence of Texas was the result of this memorable battle ; 
and Santa Anna was set at liberty. General Houston 
was elected president of the new republic, which was as 
yet too weak and too impoverished to maintain its inde- 
pendence for any considerable time between two neigh- 
bours so powerful and so jealous of each other. In 
1845, Texas ceased to be independent, and became 
incorporated with the United States. The following 
year, Mexico and the United States quarrelled with 
respect to the fixation of the Texian boundary. War 
was declared, and commenced on the banks of the Rio- 
Grande, but was brought to a close in" Mexico. Peace 
was signed in 1848, and the frontiers fixed by the treaty 
of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Since that time emigration from 

c 3 



22 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Europe and America to Texas has assumed vast pro- 
portions. Important grants of land have been made to 
the German colonists, to the soldiers who fought in both 
wars, and to all those who had effected settlements in 
the country before 1847. Prosperity increases every 
day ; and the commercial intercourse between the United 
States and Mexico constitutes a new source of wealth to 
the latter country. 

Galveston is built on the north of a long, narrow 
sandy island, which bears its name. The whole country 
round is covered with a fine white sand, in which you 
sink up to the knees at every step. The earth, scorched 
by the sun during the day, heats the air to an intense 
degree, and renders a sojourn at Galveston insup- 
portable. The musquitos are in such myriads, and 
so troublesome, that it is difficult for a stranger to 
live there in summer. The water is detestable ; and 
the inhabitants are obliged to collect rain water in 
tanks constructed either of wood or brick. Here the 
water is kept seething, exposed to the sun's heat ; 
and if you take into account that the cisterns are 
not always of the cleanest, you may be able to form 
some idea of its quality. They are obliged to bring 
earth from the mainland to have a little vegetation ; but 
this earth is so fertile, that mixed with sand it produces 
good fruit and excellent vegetables. The houses in 
general are constructed of wood, and surrounded by 
small gardens. Along the streets, on each side, are 
planted odoriferous trees, and rose laurels, perpetually 
in bloom, and filling the air with their perfumes. 
At Galveston, as in many other towns of the slave 
states, I observed that masters give full liberty to their 
negroes on Sunday. One day in seven is not much ; 



GALVESTON. 



23 



still in a Southern State it is a great deal. On Sunday, 
therefore, the poor negroes endeavour to compensate for 
the six days of toil and servitude, and accordingly 
indulge in their two favourite amusements of pro- 
menading and dancing. Often, too, they yoke their 
masters' horses to cars and tilburies, and gallop along 
the beach, making the air resound with their songs 
and shouts of revelry, not waiting until the decline 
of the day has somewhat mitigated the heat of the 
sun. 

The episcopal residence is composed of three wretched 
huts containing seven or eight small rooms surrounded 
by galleries, shaded by fig trees, rose laurels, grenades, 
and citrons. In the evening a few of his flock used to 
visit the bishop, and grouped under a gallery ; we lis- 
tened to the recital of his travels, labours, and to the 
expressions of his hopes and fears for the future of the 
mission and its wants. To us these were the most 
agreeable hours of the day. When I first arrived at 
Galveston, the beautiful cathedral was not quite finished, 
and Divine worship was celebrated in a small wooden 
chapel with scarcely room enough to contain the congre- 
gation. The heat was insupportable, and on wet days 
the rain came through the roof. One Sunday, during 
Dr. Odin's sermon, the rain fell in torrents, and finding 
its way through the chinks came down in drops on the 
congregation, who were obliged to open their umbrellas 
in the church ; as for myself, who had no contrivance of 
the kind, I received for a good half-hour a shower-bath 
of tepid water. Nevertheless wet days are full of 
charm in this country, and one looks back to them with 
regret when the fiery heats come on. The heat in- 
creasing more and more in intensity, the good bishop, 

c 4 



24 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



apprehensive lest a residence at Galveston in summer 
would be prejudicial to my health, advised me to go to 
San Antonio de Bexar, in the interior of Texas. As 
my greatest desire was to rejoin one of my countrymen, 
the Abbe Dubuis, whose principal residence was at 
Castroville, and as Castroville is only thirty miles or so 
from San Antonio, I embraced with joy the bishop's 
proposition. Accordingly I embarked on board a steam- 
boat which was to bring me to Houston, whence I was 
to proceed on foot to San Antonio. 

During the 31st of July, 1848, the sky was a very 
furnace of fire, and the bay sparkled like a polished 
mirror. In the distance, a few bushes scattered on 
islets displayed their grey outline on an horizon 
raised to a white-heat temperature. Arrived at the ex- 
tremity of the bay, we entered the little Buffalo river, 
bordered with reeds and bulrushes, in the midst of 
which herons, and cranes, and thousands of ducks were 
disputing. By-and-by the banks increasing in height, 
approached so near each other, and formed so many 
narrow and tortuous windings, that at every instant the 
boat was caught either by the bow or the stern. At 
length the high lands appeared, covered with magnolias 
with their large white flowers and delicious perfumes. 
Grey and red squirrels leaped from branch to branch ; 
while mocking-birds and cardinals imparted life and 
language to these wonderful solitudes. "What mag- 
nificent trees ! " cried I, in transport. " Yes," re- 
plied one of my companions ; " Yes, they would make 
fine wood for building purposes, I reckon." Indignant 
at this prosaic reply, I turned round, " Monsieur is no 
doubt an American ? " said I, interrogatively, to my 
interlocutor. " Yes, sir, I am from Kentucky." The 



HOUSTON. POSTING. 



2j 



priest at Houston, a young Frenchman, was one of my 
travelling companions. We left Lyons together. I 
proceeded at once to his house. We embraced like dear 
friends who had not seen each other for an age. Houston 
is a wretched little town composed of about twenty 
shops, and a hundred huts, dispersed here and there, 
among trunks of felled trees. It is infested with 
methodists and ants. These ants crawl along the streets, 
and through every room, in endless processions ; and the 
ceiling, the walls, the floor are traversed in every di- 
rection by the dark and ever-moving columns of their 
battalions. The inhabitants, with a view of removing 
something or other from their untiring search, place 
small vessels filled with water under the bed-posts, 
tables, and cupboards. At night I lay in a bed similarly 
protected, in which, to employ an old French word, 
I was insulated, and slept without molestation in 
the midst of enemies. The next morning, however, 
while dressing, I was seized with an itching all over 
my body, being stung from head to foot. I lost no 
time in flinging off my clothes. The fact is, I had for- 
got to place them on my bed, or on a table, or on 
some inaccessible piece of furniture, and they had been 
overrun with ants. Having given them a vigorous 
shake, and put them on again at the risk of bearing 
away with me some of the hosts which had taken pos- 
session of them, I made my escape from this ant-hill. 
Two hours afterwards I again embraced my fellow 
countryman, and started en poste for San Antonio. 

The poste is a cart or species of waggon drawn by 
four powerful horses. I was the only passenger. We 
set off at a gallop. A bridge, six or seven feet in width, 
and constructed of two planks and branches of trees 



26 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



badly joined together, is thrown across bet wen the two 
small hills which confine the channel of the Buffalo. 
We crossed this bridge at full speed. I was filled with 
alarm ; for the slightest accident would have pre- 
cipitated us into the river. I had not, however, much 
time for reflection ; for the jumping and jolting of the 
waggon knocked me about so, and put me in such immi- 
nent fear of a capsize, that I laid hold of the vehicle 
with the desperation of a shipwrecked mariner clinging 
to a rock despite the waves which dash about and buffet 
him on all sides. In a short time, however, I relaxed 
m} T grasp, bruised and exhausted, and abandoned my- 
self an unresisting victim to the jolts and tossings of 
the waggon. 

The roads in Texas are almost all constructed with a 
view to great economy, and in the most primitive manner. 
In the woods, simple notches in the trees indicate the 
route. If any tree should happen to be too much in 
the way, they cut it down at about a foot from the 
ground, with the intention, it would appear, of insuring 
a jolt here and there. In the prairies and open 
country there is no marked path; and every one 
proceeds, according to his taste, along a flat, unbroken 
surface. The poste goes at full speed through the 
woods, passing over stumps, and striking against trees ; 
in the prairies, on the contrary, where the sun broils 
you without mercy, it proceeds at a walking pace. Is 
this done with the view of getting up impressions for 
the travellers, or with some other intent ? I know not. 

After this desperate careering through the forest, we 
entered on one of those immense prairies of which I 
had heard so much. We could not have reached its op- 
posite boundary though we had journeyed all clay. In 



EPISODES IN THE EXCURSION. 



27 



about an hour we were lost in an ocean of dry, stunted 
herbage, in which neither bush nor bramble obstructed 
the view ; where there was nothing to mark either 
beginning or end, and where all around was mute and 
motionless. I looked in vain for beauty in this scenery ; 
grand, it is true, but of the wild and melancholy 
grandeur of the desert. My soul was filled with the 
immensity of the picture, as on the ocean ; but the sea 
has at least the wind and waves to give it life and ani- 
mation ; whereas in these endless solitudes there reigns 
a sullen silence, which fills the heart with a deep, dis- 
tressing sense of loneliness. I felt quite uncomfortable 
in this void, which resembled chaos. 

In the evening I descried a little hill in the distance, 
gilded by the last rays of the sun ; — it was the burying 
place of an Indian tribe — a heap of forgotten graves, 
bathed in a flood of light. Such was the only monu- 
ment — the only trace of man's sojourn. Whilst thue 
lost in the depths of my own reflections, and contemplat- 
ing the setting sun, my postboy fell asleep, and the horses, 
left to themselves, came upon a ravine, into which 
our waggon was thrown as a matter of course, while the 
charioteer and myself were flung on the opposite bank 
by the shock. 

"Are any of your bones smashed?" said my driver, 
starting from his sleep. 
" No," I replied. 

" Good ! then there is no harm done." 

" No harm done ! Why if this mode of travelling 
continued for four or five days, it is impossible that I 
should arrive at San Antonio with an unbroken bone in 
my body." 

The night, which in those countries is not preceded 



28 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



by twilight, came upon us immediately afterwards. How- 
ever, we had first arrived at a farm-house, where we 
passed the night. 

The crowing of the cock, the lowing of cattle, and 
the bleating of sheep, cheered and delighted me. I felt 
as though I had reached some friendly port after a long 
and wearisome voyage, and was once again in a country 
with which I was quite familiar. I fancied myself in a 
French farm-house. After partaking of a good supper, 
I was shown a bed, oblong in shape, and made of 
the branches of trees. Over the branches, and by 
way of substitute for a mattress, was laid a blanket. 
Having placed my clothes over all, I lay down half- 
dead with fatigue. Sleep, however, was out of the 
question, for the sharp ends of the branches pricked my 
sides ; and though I turned and turned again to find 
some spot whereon to lie at ease, I found it not ; and 
the day broke upon me while thus engaged. But rise I 
must, for the stage before me was long and toilsome, 
and beset with danger, as our route lay through the 
heart of the forest, and bristled with stumps of trees. 
In addition to this, it conducted us through a low 
swampy region, infested with wild beasts, and serpents 
of the larger species. As a matter of precaution, my 
charioteer provided himself with a hatchet, ropes, a six- 
barrelled revolver, and a carabine ; but as I was entirely 
without arms myself, I took my seat near the driver, to 
have a ready protector in case of danger. 

Notwithstanding my fears, the pleasure of finding 
myself once more in forest land and among the trees 
made me forget all danger ; and rarely have I felt happier 
in my life. Nature seemed to exhaust her store of va- 
riety to make some atonement for the distressing mo- 



THE PRAIRIE. THE PANTHER. 29 

notony of yesterday. First we passed through prairies 
— which were happily of limited extent. Eivulets 
murmured on all sides, and our way was bordered 
with flowers in such profusion, and so thickly matted 
that scarcely was a stem or leaf discernible in this 
melange of brilliant colours. A light breeze played 
through the old oaks which were scattered here and 
there in this delightful garden of nature's own arrange- 
ment. It was in very deed a lovely Eden. At one view 
the oaks are grouped in clumps, then whole forests 
of them meet the eye. At length they are inter- 
spersed with countless sycamores and plane trees. In 
a word, we were in a virgin forest — in the America 
of the poets. Delighted to find myself amid vege- 
tation so luxuriant, all my previous apprehensions were 
lulled to rest. I was, to say the truth, lost in admiration. 
But the enchantment was short-lived ; for I was soon 
aroused from it by observing the driver suddenly grasp 
his carabine, cock it, examine the priming, and then 
leisurely replace it between his feet. Danger is at hand, 
it would seem. Still the driver continues to hum his 
tune, and only breaks oiF to point out to me the honey- 
tree and those plants which have the property of curing 
serpent bites — an infallible remedy ! Suddenly the 
horses stop short, snort wildly, tremble all over, and 
plunge backwards. In their paroxysm they dash the 
waggon with violence against the trunk of a tree, and 
the pole is smashed. My companion alights with his 
carabine. At the same instant a panther of huge size 
crouches and springs on the foremost horse. Then a 
shot is fired, and this formidable denizen of the forest 
falls to the ground lifeless. As for myself, the shock 
sent me head over heels to the bottom of the waggon, 



30 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



whence I witnessed the scene from quite an extraor- 
dinary point of view (a Venvers). The horse happily re- 
ceived but a few slight scratches, and the pole was soon 
put to rights by means of ropes. The panther was 
hoisted into the waggon alongside of me ; and after half 
an hour's delay we were on our way again as though 
nothing had happened. 

In a short time we reached the Brazos, a narrow, 
shallow river. Its waters are limpid, and trees of pro- 
digious height take root in its bed, stretching out 
their lordly branches, bower-like, over the current. We 
crossed the river on a kind of raft, and very soon found 
ourselves in one of those rich cotton plantations which 
are so numerous on the banks of the Brazos. 

The cotton-trees are covered with white or red 
flowers, which rise and fall with the undulations of the 
land. We arrived late in the evening at the farm-house 
where we were to pass the night. This house, and its 
dependencies, overhung by oaks, acacias, and maples, 
are extensive, and bespeak comfort. I slept pretty 
well during the night, but on the following morning 
I perceived that the money which I brought with 
me from Galveston had so diminished that I had not 
wherewith to meet the expenses of the road to San 
Antonio. From motives of economy, therefore, I dis- 
pensed with breakfast. At this stage a young widow 
of seventeen entered the waggon with us ; but to me her 
presence brought ill-luck. The morning had hardly 
dawned, when the air became heavy and smelt of 
sulphur and charcoal. Suddenly the heavens were 
overcast, and flashes of lightning succeeded each 
other so rapidly that the sky seemed wrapt in one vast 
conflagration. Large lukewarm drops now began to 



THUNDER-STORM. 



31 



fall, and presently came down a very deluge which soon 
penetrated my thin cotton garments and drenched me to 
the skin. Swollen torrents improvised by the tempest 
rushed down upon us from all sides. Our vehicle, in a 
short time, floated, or rather floundered, with difficulty 
through a lake of liquid mud, while peals of thunder 
became incessant and terrific, and a few paces from us 
the earth was riven by the lightning. My companion 
was dreadfully alarmed ; but fear was the only misery 
she had to endure, as she was enveloped in thick cover- 
ing, and provided with an umbrella which, like a shower- 
bath, sent down upon my neck and knees two torrents 
of ice-cold water. I was half drowned by it. My 
hands became shrivelled, and of a death-like whiteness, 
while my teeth chattered, and I shivered from head to 
foot. Towards one o'clock in the afternoon the storm 
subsided, and an hour afterwards we arrived at a small 
town called Independencia. To spare expense I had but 
a poor dinner, paid exorbitantly for it, and had no 
time to dry my wet clothes ; and the water which was 
pumping in my shoes once removed, I was obliged to 
resume my journey. It blew, however, from the north, 
and I was soon dry again. Our route lay between an 
oak forest and a prairie enamelled with flowers, now 
bent and broken by the storm ; but it was so cut 
up by the rains, that it was late at night when we 
arrived at the inn. Next morning's breakfast cost 
my last farthing ; and as there was still a journey of 
three days before we should reach San Antonio, the 
long fast in prospective had no cheering effect on my 
mind ; hence I had little disposition to admire the 
beauties of the scenery around me, though it was beauti- 
ful. Giant trees were encircled by giant vines ; one of 



32 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the latter being at least fifteen inches in circumference, 
and in height thirty or forty feet, while it wrapped 
its stalwart boughs around the summits of the largest 
sycamores, and stretched them out to a distance of a 
hundred yards or more. 

At noon, as we approached the house where we were 
to dine, a party of both sexes, in full dress, made their 
appearance on horseback from all parts of the wood. 
They were presbyterians on their way to hear a sermon 
from one of their ministers, whose house was at once a 
conventicle and an hostelrie. Not having a farthing 
to pay for dinner, I was strolling about in the worst 
humour imaginable, when a vehicle, very like our own, 
containing two persons in black, appeared on the way 
by which we were about to continue our journey. 
What was my joy on recognising the Abbe Dubuis, and 
another fellow countryman from Lyons who had not as 
yet become a missionary! We threw ourselves into 
each other's arms, and in turn recounted all our ad- 
ventures. The Abbe Dubuis expressed his deep regret 
at the step I had taken ; for whilst I was on my way to 
join him, he had left Castroville, disheartened by the 
wickedness of the people, who, not satisfied with allow- 
ing him to starve, used every effort to destroy his 
reputation. His fellow labourer in the mission had 
died at the end of three months of misery, weariness, 
and pain. I knew not well what to do on hearing this, 
the more so, as I had not a farthing, and the Abbe had not 
so much money as would enable me to retrace my steps. 
Still, although very straitened in means himself, he 
could give me as much as would support me until I 
reached San Antonio. I had therefore no alternative: but 
perplexed and broken-hearted, I was forced to continue 



THE FIDDLER. SAN MARCOS. 



33 



my journey. Before arriving at San Antonio I had to 
pass through Austin, San Marcos, and Braunfels. The 
Abbe Dubuis roused my spirits a little by promising 
me that he would return to his mission if the bishop 
authorised me to share in its labours. 

Austin, the seat of the Texian Legislature, is a 
small dirty town, and contained only one wretched 
hotel. Crossing the Colorado in a boat, we wit- 
nessed a novel ceremony — the baptism of two old Pro- 
testant women. The minister, standing on a plank 
between two boats, seized the neophytes one after the 
other, plunged them to their necks in the water, and 
held them there until he had pronounced the sacra- 
mental words. The entire population of Austin was 
present, and appeared highly amused with this exhibi- 
tion of a religious bath ; but as for the two old women, 
they appeared in nowise concerned at the presence of 
such immense crowds of spectators. 

At every instant as we went along, the driver pointed 
out to us the spots where sanguinary conflicts had taken 
place, either between white men and Indians, or between 
the Mexicans and the people of Texas. His tales would 
have filled me with alarm in this wild and desert 
region, had not a fellow-traveller — a half-tipsy fiddler — - 
diverted my thoughts from the deeds of blood by the 
jarring sounds of his violin. 

The country, as you approach San Marcos, becomes 
more interesting ; the hills, though inconsiderable as 
yet, are numerous ; and some are bare and arid, whilst 
others are covered with oaks ; but as you advance 
towards the north and north-west, they increase in 
height and frequency, forming, as it were, the advanced 
guard of a chain of mountains which you descry in the 

D 



34 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



distance, and which, in all probability, have never been 
trodden by human feet, save those of the Indians. 
The inn of the small village of San Marcos is composed 
of two huts, constructed of pine wood and straw. 
What struck me as peculiarly odd, was the fact of there 
being but two beds in the whole concern — to be sure 
each was of enormous size. I was informed that one of 
them was set apart for men, the other for women. 
Bears are very numerous in this lonely spot ; and here, 
for the first time in my life, I tasted of their flesh, 
and found it excellent. We met at the inn another 
passenger for San Antonio. He was a Frenchman, who 
had come to San Marcos to hunt bears, and was taking 
back with him t wo of those animals. Whilst at dinner, 
we were startled by a deep growling near us. At once 
the Frenchman seized his double-barrel gun, and left 
the room without a word. I asked our host what was 
the matter. " Only a bear," he replied, with the 
greatest possible composure ; but seeing my astonish- 
ment, he added : "Oh! no doubt, these animals some- 
times commit depredations, but they rarely attack us. 
As soon as they catch a glimpse of us, they scamper off. 
It is even said that the farm of a Mr. Mosenbach, on 
the road as you go to Fredericksburg, is not guarded 
by dogs, but by tame bears. When one arrives there 

after sunset " The double report of a gun 

cut short the conversation ; and a minute or two after- 
wards the Frenchman reappeared, and took his place 
at the table, assuring me that he had certainly wounded 
the bear, but fearing lest he should lose his place in 
the waggon, he had refrained from pursuing the animal 
into the forest. May we not presume that this French- 
man was a Gascon ? 



THE ELECTORS AND THE FIDDLER. 



35 



Braunfels is an important German colony. We 
arrived there in the evening. Groups of drunken 
fellows, shouting and disputing under the double ex- 
citement of wine and loud talk, met us at every step. 
1 could not think of spending the night in such com- 
pany, until some one said to me, u Oh don't mind it — - 
it is an election day ; depend upon it there will be more 
noise than danger." In the room where I was to spend 
the night were two beds; it was, moreover, full of 
drunken fellows, smoking, drinking, and discussing 
politics. The appearance of our friend the musician 
was greeted with a general hurrah, and the whole party 
stood up and swore they would have a dance. I pro- 
fited by the movement to seize on one of the beds; 
anticipating, however, scenes the duration or result of 
which it was impossible to divine, I durst not undress ; 
so I awaited the issue, heartily disgusted with politics, 
fiddle, and wine. 

The musician proclaimed aloud that so long as his 
throat was dry, the instrument would not work, but 
keep it moistened with something to drink, and the fiddle 
will go on as long as you please. A new salvo of hurrahs 
followed this announcement, and the tables were covered 
in an instant with bottles of wine and brandy. Then 
came forth from the fiddle, waltzes, and American tunes 
in screeching notes of merciless discord. The electors 
jump, and twirl about, and fling themselves into a 
thousand contortions, shouting the while in a way to 
smash the tympanum of a deaf man's ear. As luck 
would have it, a string of the fiddle broke after three 
hours' uproar. This put an end to music and dancing 
for the night; and my friends staggered out of the 
room. In an instant I was undressed, the candle 



36 



TEXAS AND MEXICO, 



extinguished, and I was just falling into a sound sleep 
when something fell heavily upon me. Startled, and 
half crushed to death, I groped about me, when lo ! I 
laid hold of a coat, some hair, a nose, and a fiddle. It 
was the musician, who had tumbled into my bed as 
drunk as an elector. I extricated myself from this 
avalanche the best way I could, and took refuge in the 
vacant bed. 

San Antonio, the end of our journey, was only 
thirty miles off. The route lay through a charming 
country — picturesque and beautifully diversified. Nu- 
merous waggons drawn by oxen were taking mer- 
chandise to Braunfels, or maize to San Antonio. Every 
thing bespoke the vicinity of a large town. We arrived 
at half-past three o'clock, — it was high time, for I was 
bruised, broken, and thoroughly knocked up by the 
journey. 



37 



CHAR II. 

SAN ANTONIO. — FURNISHED LODGINGS. — MY ORDINATION. —CASTRO- 

VILLE. DOMESTIC SCENES. RATTLESNAKES. A CROCODILE HUNT. 

— THE CHURCH. THE MISSIONARY. — THE MISSIONS. FIRST EX- 
CURSION. A QUIPROQUO. 

San Antonio, like the majority of Mexican towns, is 
remarkable for a large square which occupies its centre. 
In the middle of this square stands the church with its 
thick walls, its massive quadrangular steeple, and in- 
significant cupola raised over the choir. Surrounding 
the square on all sides are rows of large houses built 
of stone, whitewashed, with flat roofs and terraces, 
and windows few in number and very small. Here 
and there clumps of Chinese lilacs. The streets are 
straight, but filthy, and encumbered with oxen and 
waggons, either quite disabled or covered all over with 
mud. Courtyards or kitchen gardens, where grow, 
without culture or without the exhibition of any taste 
as to the planting, lilacs, fig-trees, pomegranates, and 
peach-trees. At present, in the construction of build- 
ings, stone is beginning to replace bamboos, adaubes, 
or bricks burned in the sun, and cabins built with the 
branches of trees. At that time the population, which for 
the most part was Mexican, did not exceed three or four 
thousand. The dress of the men is picturesque and 
graceful, although not so rich as in the interior of 
Mexico. The broad-leafed hat is decorated with silver 
ornaments ; the vest is short, and, when it is of buck- 
skin, the sleeves are open to the elbow, and ornamented 

D 3 



88 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



with silver buttons. The pantaloons, too, are garnished 
with buttons, and open to the hips, but buttoned from 
the knee upwards. They are of skin, cloth, or blue 
velvet, bordered with large bands of black velvet. A 
cincture of blue or red silk, with fringe, completes the 
costume. The Mexican women are scantily clad, wearing 
only a chemise with very low front, and a petticoat. 
When they leave the house, they wear a gown of thin 
silk, and cover the entire person with a scarf, which 
hangs about them in the most graceful folds. 

San Antonio is situated between the 29th and 30th 
degree of north latitude, and in the 100th degree of 
west longitude. Its position, near the north-eastern 
frontier of Mexico, makes it a place of great impor- 
tance. It is the principal depot for the merchandise 
of the United States, which is conveyed hence to Mon- 
clova, Monterey, Saltillo, Paso del Norte, and even 
to San Luis de Potosi in the interior of Mexico. Every 
week arrive, from different localities, long caravans of 
ponderous waggons with massive wheels, drawn by 
oxen, and superintended by rich Mexican traders, who 
come here to lay in a stock of muslins, cottons of all 
kinds, soap, sugar, flour, and coffee. 

The priests who served the mission of San Antonio 
were Spaniards, and inhabited a large dreary stone house 
at the western extremity of the square. There being 
no room for me, I was lodged in the garret, which was 
divided into two compartments, of which one contained 
provisions for culinary purposes, onions, garlic, pi- 
mento, and vegetables, which were put there to dry. 
This part, which was very large, served me as a pro- 
menade for two months. Here I passed long hours 
musing a great deal, pacing the length and breadth of 



FURNISHED LODGINGS. 



39 



the planks, picking my steps lest I should crush the 
vegetables, and all the while meditating profoundly on 
a great variety of subjects. 

The other part, which served me as a bed-room, was 
very small. The furniture consisted of a miserable kind 
of camp-bed, without either mattress or palliasse, a crazy 
table, and two chairs, one of which was without a bottom, 
the other wanted a leg. My sofa was a public coffin, in 
which the mortal remains of the poor were conveyed to 
the cemetery ; after consigning them to the grave, the 
coffin returned once more to the garret, ready to per- 
form the same duty again, as often as its services were 
required. One small window looked out on the road to 
Mexico, while a dormer skylight window commanded at 
once a view of the priest's poultry yard and the burial 
ground. The roof gave free admission to the rain, as 
also, and, in a very special manner, to the sun's burning 
rays. Denizens, at all events, were not wanting in my 
retreat — for dormice, rats, spiders, musquitos, and in- 
sects of every denomination, in myriads, lived and 
broiled there in my society. Close to the house was a 
stream of clear water, where the washing business of 
the town was done, and in which the women bathed 
publicly. My window was in view of all their gam- 
bolings ; I was, therefore, obliged to keep it closed 
during the day. I could not take a walk through the 
town in the day time on account of the heat, nor outside 
its precincts, for fear of the Indians. The parish priest 
informed me that for a long time he could not accom- 
pany a corpse to the cemetery, which was not more than 
a pistol shot from his house, without being protected by 
armed men. Thus I was kept a close prisoner in my 
garret, hardly able to breathe, unable to study, and dying 

D 4 



40 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



of ennui. This want of air, exercise, and mental occu- 
pation brought on a very singular malady. Fainting 
fits, which on each occasion lasted for a considerable 
time, and which came on so suddenly that it was never 
in my power to call for assistance, seized me once or 
twice every day. One evening, more than usually 
oppressed by a host of gloomy thoughts, I sat contem- 
plating from my narrow skylight the graves beneath 
me, with their rustic crosses and white head-stones 
scorched in the sun ; my ill-defined desires and aspira- 
tions were ascending to the throne of the God of all 
consolation. I dared not complain somehow, and yet I 
suffered intensely — all at once I heard a coarse voice 
chant forth in French the following words : — 

" Oh ! surtout cache-lui 
D'ou vient mon ennui . . ." 

At a bound I was on my legs, at the aperture of my 
pigeon-box, to find out who it was that sung thus. I 
discovered that it was a mason who worked at a neigh- 
bouring wall. 

" You are a Frenchman?" cried I, deeply affected by 
the meeting. 

" A Frenchman, without a doubt, and a Comtois too, 
at your service. But who are you, and what in Heaven's 
name are you doing at that skylight ? " 

"I, too, am a Frenchman. I am preparing for the 
mission of Texas. The bishop has sent me here that I 
might escape the fevers of Galveston ; but I have no 
acquaintance ; and I never leave my garret except to 
go to church ; hence the voice of a countryman made 
me leap for joy." 

" At that rate, with no one to speak to, your time 
must hang heavily enough upon you. If you think well 



MY ORDINATION. 



41 



of it, I'll come and see you after my work, and we'll 
have a little chat together." 

I received the offer with joy. Nevertheless two 
months after my arrival at San Antonio my strength, 
both of body and mind, was quite exhausted. My state 
of mind was such- that I conceived the silly project of 
returning on foot, and without money, to Galveston. 
At this juncture the bishop arrived, and I received his 
orders to prepare for my examination previous to my 
ordination. At first I hesitated. I durst not as yet 
bind myself by an irrevocable vow to the work of the 
ministry among a vicious people, with whose language 
and manners I was totally unacquainted, under a burning 
sky, amid perils and dangers of all sorts — and that, too, 
when I had not as yet attained my twenty-third year — 
that is, at an age when the passions are strongest. 

The solemn engagements I w T as about to contract 
filled me with terror ; and distrusting entirely in my 
own resolves, I besought Almighty God to vouchsafe 
me His holy inspirations. At this moment the Abbe 
Dubuis arrived in San Antonio. The good priest 
aroused and encouraged me, pointed out to me those 
multitudes around us who stood in such extreme need 
of a priest's ministry, and promised to receive me into 
a participation of all his labours and sacrifices. " In 
the missions we are obliged to endure all the crosses of 
life," he was wont to say to me, " the ingratitude of 
some, the indifference of others; and still the missionary 
feels himself recompensed a hundred fold when he is 
able to impart some consolation to these poor people 
here on earth, and when by his ministry he insures to 
them a crown hereafter in heaven. Indeed, they more 
than repay us for all our toils and sacrifices by the hap- 



42 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



piness we experience in ministering to their wants and 
necessities." I could resist no longer : and eight days 
afterwards I was ordained priest. I bethought me, not 
without deep emotion, of the young clerics in the old 
country, who, on the occasion of their ordination, are 
surrounded by relatives and friends, from whom they 
receive counsel and encouragement. As for myself, I 
was separated from all I held dear in this world ; I was 
alone, and opening before me was a life of solitude and 
hardships without end. To me the chalice was a bitter 
one ; but, aided by God's grace, I felt no inward regret. 
And yet it was one of those days in my existence in 
which religion should have shed her most benign influ- 
ence, and imparted to me all her saving counsels ; for on 
that clay I offered the sacrifice of my life and of my 
whole being. 

The mission, whose labours I shared with the Abbe 
Dubuis, comprised the German Catholics, who were dis- 
persed through the towns, settlements, and villages on 
the north-western boundary of Texas, as also the Irish 
soldiers who were employed in the American service to 
repress the incursions of the Indian tribes. The prin- 
cipal points were : Castroville, thirty miles west of San 
Antonio, and the residence of the Abbe Dubuis, where I 
subsequently resided ; twelve miles farther on, Quihi ; 
then Vandenberg ; the colony and camp of Dhanis ; and 
more remote still, another American camp, situate on the 
river Leona ; one hundred miles north of San Antonio, 
Fredericksburg and the Llano; and to the east, Braunfels, 
through which I had passed on my way to San Antonio. 
I had nothing to do with the Mexicans ; the only foreign 
language which I spoke, the Italian, was therefore use- 
less to me. I knew only a word or two of English ; 



CASTRO VILLE . 



43 



and of German, which was indispensable to me, I was 
utterly ignorant. 

Two days after my ordination I set out for Castro- 
ville, accompanied by an Alsacian. Owing to his being 
detained by business at Braunfels, the Abbe Dubuis 
was unable to preside at my installation. It was a 
lovely summer's evening. My travelling companion 
drove a waggon, laden with merchandise and drawn by 
oxen. The slow pace at which he proceeded gave me 
leisure to examine this route, which at a future time I 
should be obliged to travel so frequently by day and 
night. Leaving San Antonio behind us, we entered a 
chaparal, or coppice-wood, of two miles in length. The 
mesquite, the acacia, and the cactus constitute almost 
the entire vegetation of this ill-famed spot, in which 
murders were frequent. Beyond this stretches out a 
vast plain called the Leona, covered with flocks and herds, 
and inhabited by deer. Then the landscape becomes sud- 
denly much diversified ; hills succeed hills, approach each 
other, and then retire, leaving in the intermediate space 
small prairies covered with flowers, cut up by broad but 
shallow rivulets, which wind along beneath the shade of 
the walnut-tree, disappear in a tiny valley, and finally 
lose themselves in the distance. The greater number of 
these hills are covered with matted grass, from eighteen 
inches to two feet in length, which is a favourite food 
with both tame and wild animals. Here and there, at 
intervals, are clumps of trees, on which blue birds, 
cardinals, and golden-necked starlings chirp and flutter 
in thousands. 

I arrived at Castroville at one o'clock in the morning, 
and directed my steps to the house of the good mis- 
sionary, to take up my quarters there. Fancy my 



44 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



astonishment at finding it already tenanted. A family- 
had taken possession of it, and were living there 
quite at ease. What more natural than to occupy an 
empty house ? Still the reception I met with bore little 
resemblance to that of the Hound in "La Fontaine." 
It is but fair to state that the conduct of this family 
towards me was very gracious. They prepared a bed 
for me, and did all the honours of the house which they 
had usurped. I slept so soundly under the same roof 
with my new friends, that I rose next morning much 
later than the sun. I dressed in all haste, and pro- 
ceeded to a wretched cabin, which they call the church, 
to celebrate the Divine mysteries. There was no one 
present. My arrival had not been as yet announced 
to the people. After mass, I made an inspection of 
the parsonage. It had been built by the Abbe Dubuis, 
aided by his colleague, the Abbe Chazelle, who had since 
then died, after an illness of three months. It was 
constructed of wood, stone, and brick. Here and there, 
in the angles of the walls, were large fissures, which 
opened much frequented passages for lizards and ser- 
pents, as also for rats, ants, scorpions, and tarantulas. 
This building consisted of two rooms separated by a 
corridor ; of a barn, in front of which was a garden for 
vegetables, and flanked by a yard and two cabins, 
one of which served by turns for stable, granary, and 
henhouse, and sometimes for all three together ; whilst 
the other, which was constructed with branches and 
covered with thatch, was at once the kitchen and school- 
room. In the garden, near my room, was the grave of 
the Abbe Chazelle, covered over and perfumed with 
mignonette. 

Both of the fellow-labourers had been struck down at 



DOMESTIC SCENES. 



45 



the same time by dangerous maladies. While one lay on 
a buffalo hide on the ground, the other pined away on a 
table which served him as a bed. No physician was at 
hand to assist them in their sickness, and their only medi- 
cine was a little cold water. One day when they could 
with difficulty hold themselves erect, they crawled out- 
side the house to mark the spot where the survivor should 
inter the other. Although at that time Abbe Chazelle 
was in a less dangerous state than his companion, still 
he died a few days afterwards of languor, nostalgia, and 
want. The Abbe Dubuis tottered to the side of his 
poor brother, gave him the last consolations of religion, 
in a voice almost deprived of utterance ; and then, by a 
last effort, conveyed his remains to the spot which he 
had chosen as his sepulchre. Affecting spectacle ! The 
dying burying the dead. The sight of this green grave 
brought tears to my eyes ; and kneeling on the bed of 
repose where lay my predecessor, I offered up a fervent 
prayer to God for that soul which had endured so 
much, and whose experience of the Missions was only 
associated with suffering and misery. 

I pursued my domiciliary inspection, and with a view 
of establishing myself in my new habitation, made choice 
of a room on the right hand as being the less com- 
modious of the two. The floor was the bare earth, 
overgrown with small plants, bearing tiny white flowers. 
As it had been taken military possession of by three 
formidable republics of ants, I proceeded forthwith to 
dislodge them. Yain effort ! It was an heroic un- 
dertaking, but, alas ! my strength was unequal to its 
accomplishment; two years of incessant labour were 
devoted to it in vain. The bed was so rickety, and so 
badly held together, that I abandoned it altogether, and 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



instead prepared for myself a hammock, which I sus- 
pended under the gallery in the garden. The wretched 
fare, to which my poverty subjected me, added consi- 
derably to my discomforts. I had discovered a small 
quantity of pork and bacon in the granary, as also some 
pieces of dried venison, which I mistook for sponges. 
To me these viands were most unpalatable ; and to 
remove their flavour I used them with a mixture of 
pepper, pimento, and vinegar, which scorched and 
excoriated my mouth. In revenge, I made terrible 
onslaughts on a kind of wild salad, which I gathered in 
the mountains at the risk of being bitten by rattle- 
snakes, or scalped by the Indians. In these countries 
oil is very dear, I was therefore obliged to use milk for 
seasoning purposes. 

Castroville is a collection of huts, of every shape and 
size. The streets run at right angles to each other. It 
is bounded on the west by the small river Medina, 
and on the east by hills more or less wooded. The 
situation is low ; weeds spring up everywhere, cover 
the streets with a thick carpet, and afford shelter to 
multitudes of ants, reptiles, and insects, as also to a very 
small species of rabbit. The people appeared to have 
blamed themselves and repented somewhat during the 
absence of the Abbe Dubuis. They seemed to have disco- 
vered that their conduct towards the good priest had been 
very faulty. The school which my fellow-labourer had 
founded, and in which from sixty to eighty children of 
both sexes received gratuitous instruction, had been 
closed at his departure. I reopened it, and taught the 
children their catechism, French, and even a little English 
and German, which I learned myself whilst instructing 
them. Still I made but poor progress ; and my igno- 



MISSIONARY REMUNERATION. 



47 



ranee of their language prevented me from entering into 
any social intercourse with the people. Thus con- 
demned to silence and to a state of complete isolation, I 
fell into mortal ennui before the end of a fortnight. 

A few days after my arrival in Castroville I baptized 
an infant. The ceremony over, the father inquired 
how much he was in my debt. As soon as I understood 
him, I informed him, in the best way I could, that we 
had nothing fixed in these matters, and that I should 
receive with gratitude whatever he might offer. Upon 
which he made me a very polite bow. The idea of this 
highly lucrative debut threw me into fits of laughter ; still 
the reflection would force itself upon me, that should I 
continue to proceed at this rate much longer, starvation 
and death were inevitable. Another day an old woman 
handed me a sixpence, saying, " Here, your Reverence, 
take this, and say as many masses as you can for it." 
"Keep your money," replied I, smiling, "and I'll offer 
up the Holy Sacrifice to-morrow on your behalf." She 
went her way, radiant with joy, but carrying off her 
sixpence. In this way I might have contributed, from 
time to time, to the happiness of my parishioners ; but 
I had no idea whatever of inducing them to believe that 
priests possessed the happy knack of living without 
food ; and I resolved therefore, and in order to secure 
the solid establishment of the Mission, to exercise gene- 
rosity only in such cases of charity as rendered its 
exercise a duty. And after all, I had no great reason 
to complain of the people. They appeared to take my 
youth into consideration, and to accord me their sympa- 
thies. From time to time, too, they made me small offer- 
ings of vegetables and fresh meat. These were a great 
treat. Indeed, compared with the venison — nay, even 



48 



TEXAS AXD MEXICO. 



with my wild salad — tliey were quite matters of luxury 
and high living. 

The Abbe Dubuis arrived at last. He remained a few 
months, and reserved to himself all the drudgery of the 
Mission. The people improved. I made progress in 
German. Presents were not so scarce as of old ; the 
food more tolerable ; indeed, it even sometimes happened 
that our wants were all but supplied. A collection of 
minerals and curious animals constituted my principal 
riches. In my repertory might be seen a centipede 
eleven inches long, and a caterpillar thirteen inches in 
length and two in circumference. As for serpents, I 
had them of all sizes and of every variety. Selection 
was easy ; they were everywhere under our feet ; Ave 
walked on them, and crushed them unconsciously, with- 
out paying any attention to the fact. The business of 
destroying them was left to the pigs, the cats, and even 
the fowls. These fell resolutely on the serpent's head, 
and devoured it, without subsequently experiencing 
any bodily inconvenience, an example which was not 
lost on us. At Quihi, a tiger hunter killed a rattle- 
snake which he had mistaken for a dead tree ; the rep- 
tile measured seventeen feet in length, eighteen inches 
in circumference, and was furnished with twenty-five 
rings or rattles. One day the Abbe Dubuis went to 
our little barn for some maize, and took up a serpent 
in his hand, mistaking it for a blade of corn ; another 
day a cobra de capello glided into our school-room, and 
was on the point of biting one of the children, when 
M. Dubuis killed it with a blow of a stick in the most 
business-like manner imaginable. We had a horse, 
which we allowed to roam at large through the prairie. 
One evening we missed the beast, and the Abbe and I 



RATTLESNAKES. 



49 



set out to look for him. Lest we should lose each other, 
I remained stationary on an open spot whence the 
town could be seen, while the Abbe Dubuis searched 
about to the right and to the left for the horse, taking 
care, at the same time, to be always within hail. The 
night was coming on apace, but no horse. All at once 
I perceived at my feet, and gliding from under the 
grass, where he had lain concealed for a long time, a 
rattlesnake of about two yards in length. I was 
about to take to my heels, when I bethought me that 
this serpent captured alive would be a great acquisition 
to my collection of reptiles, or at all events his skin 
would make a grand pair of slippers for my mother. 
Quick as thought I rushed upon him, and knocked him 
senseless with a large clod of earth ; I then tied a cord 
tightly round his neck. In the meantime the horse 
was found, and we retraced our steps to the town, one 
with the horse, the other with the rattlesnake, which 
commenced by degrees to recover his strength in a 
most alarming manner, making the air resound with the 
noise of his rattles, and dragging my arms about by his 
strong and rapid writhings. I durst not let go my hold 
for fear of being bitten. The efforts therefore which I 
made to hold him, and the fear of being bitten, threw me 
into a state of profuse perspiration ; however, I arrived 
at last, and tied the serpent to a bench, keeping down 
his head with my foot during the operation. Next 
day we were three at dinner : our bill of fare, however, 
included but three eggs. But what was to be done ? 
I proposed that we should eat the serpent ; M. Dubuis 
approved of the idea, remarking : " If the flesh be good, 
we shall have in future wherewith to satisfy our appetite, 
nay, even to exceed the bounds of moderation, should we 



50 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



be so inclined." Accordingly, I summoned to my aid 
all my culinary skill to dress the serpent, and in a very 
short time it appeared on the table, stripped of its skin, 
deprived of head and tail, cut into small pieces, gritted, 
and well spiced with cayenne pepper ; the new dish 
seemed palatable enough, it tasted somewhat of frogs 
and tortoise, but our natural repugnance to it was in- 
surmountable, — the idea of eating a serpent shocked our 
stomachs, otherwise we might have bid defiance to hunger. 
The bite of the rattlesnake is not always mortal ; one 
day a rattlesnake sprung upon a colonist, and bit him 
in the leg. The unfortunate fellow, tortured as he was 
by the excruciating pain of the wound, fancied he was 
dying. I was called to administer the last sacrament. 
Now, I never left the house without a small phial of 
liquid ammoniac and a bistoury. Having reached the 
sick man's bed, I enlarged the wound with my bistoury, 
and then cauterised it well with the ammoniac : eight 
days afterwards the patient was completely cured. 
Another time I was saying mass, and our sacristan, who 
had been a schoolmaster in his time, was clerk on the 
occasion. He was an old little man with enormous 
spectacles, which prevented him from seeing. As he was 
removing the book from one side of the altar to the 
other, he felt something creep up between his legs ; it 
was a royal serpent, a harmless reptile of great beauty, 
which had its nest under the altar. As soon as the 
sacristan saw it, he commenced screaming at the top of 
his voice and dancing about from side to side, all the 
while pommelling the poor serpent with the missal ; at 
last it relaxed its hold and darted into its nest under 
the altar. 

To enjoy the luxury of a little fresh meat from time 



CROCODILE HUNT. 



51 



to time, we fattened cats, which I subsequently meta- 
morphosed into most delicious fricassees. The chase 
too, one way or other, contributed to the maintenance 
of our table. Whenever there were any pieces of small 
money in our round snuiF-box, which was our iron- safe, 
and which in that capacity received all presents of our 
parishioners, — on the occasion of baptisms, which were 
rare, and of marriages, which were rarer still, — I laid 
out a portion of it in the purchase of powder and shot, 
to be employed in shooting woodquests and squirrels. 
Not that I loved the sport ; for, to fatigue myself to 
death during the entire length of a day, besides tearing 
my skin and clothes in killing one or two very harmless 
animals, was never to me a source of pleasure. But 
necessity consulteth not our tastes. One Thursday when 
our treasure amounted to ten sous, and the children 
had a holiday, I provided myself with ammunition and 
started in company with Charles, a young French 
gentleman and a keen sportsman, to shoot wild tur- 
keys on the picturesque banks of the Medina. After 
beating the bushes and copsewood, to the utter des- 
truction of our clothes and hands, we failed to start a 
single bird. Seeing this, my companion directed his at- 
tention to coveys of partridges, which whizzed by us at 
every step. I continued my way along the river's edge, 
picking my steps with great caution, lest I should 
tread on rattlesnakes or congos, — hideous black ser- 
pents, extremely dangerous, which abound in the 
neighbourhood of watercourses. I arrived at length 
at a bend of the river where the water calmly reposed 
under the shadow of enormous fig trees. Athwart the 
foliage the sun's rays gilded the particoloured water- 
lilies, which formed the framework of this sparkling 

E 2 



52 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



mirror. The chase was soon forgotten, and whilst I 
stood admiring this lovely spot, the leaves of the water- 
lilies were agitated, and I observed them disappear, and 
form, as it were, a pathway under the water. It at 
once occurred to me that some large fish was taking his 
promenade through this delicious aquatic garden, when 
suddenly I recognised the bony, dark brown back of a 
crocodile. 

In general, when I apprehend even an imaginary 
danger, my first impulse is to avoid it ; nevertheless, 
should any useful object be attained by confronting it, 
my second impulse brings me into its presence; hence I 
resolved on killing this amphibious creature, with a view 
to increase our stock of provisions. Being provided with 
small shot only, I charged the gun heavily with it, in 
the fervent hope that the animal would turn the side of 
his head towards me. I raised the gun to my shoulder, 
and stood ready to fire. But whether it was ill-luck, 
or that the crocodile suspected danger, the fact is, 
he only exposed the front of his head. At length, 
however, he did make the desired move: I fired, and 
the animal disappeared under water. Have I missed 
him ? No. Something comes up to the surface of the 
water. I leaped for joy on perceiving that it was the 
crocodile's belly. In truth I was very proud. This 
animal is so hideous that I had no pity for him. I 
called out to my companion with all my strength. 
He at the same moment was hurling anathemas 
against my shot, the report of which had frightened 
some partridges which he had kept in view for the 
last quarter of an hour. Still, fearing that some ac- 
cident had occurred, he ran towards me in all haste, 
and entered into all my delight at the sight of this 



CROCODILE HUNT. 



53 



enormous piece of game, which floated like a quan- 
tity of wood on the surface of the water. Still our 
task was only half done ; it remained for us to secure 
the prize. The river, on issuing from the basin, became 
very narrow and rapid. Our enormous prey floated 
down with the current, very slowly, to be sure, but 
should it once reach this narrow spot, it was entirely 
lost to us. The basin was very deep, so that we durst 
not venture in, as neither of us could swim; and 
although at the place where the river entered, it was 
shallow enough, yet there was danger of being carried 
into the deep water beyond our depth by the strength 
of the current. Quite undecided as to how we should 
manage, and filled with disagreeable misgivings, we 
followed the motion of the crocodile with anxious 
minds. Fortunately, a tree which floated down before 
it, arrived crosswise, having encountered some obstacle 
at the point where the river issues from the basin, 
stopped, and arrested the motion of the crocodile. 
Time was thus afforded to consider what was best to 
be done. 

I recollected there was a farm-house on the other 
side of the river, about half-a-mile distant from us. I 
resolved therefore to cross the river with my clothes 
on, a task of no small difficulty, a dangerous one too, 
as I was up to my arm-pits in water. Having 
reached the farm-house, I found no one there, and 
retraced my steps quite out of sorts. The second 
passage of the river was even more dangerous than the 
first, and I was nigh falling into a hole, into which the 
water flung itself with tremendous fury. What was 
to be done now ? We cut a long thick liane, which 
was to be our harpoon ; and having advanced into the 

E 3 



54 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



water up to the waist, I cast it over the crocodile's 
back, (for by this time his back was again uppermost), 
and we by this means drew him to the bank. All 
at once, his tail commenced to lash our legs. Off we 
set at the top of our speed, uttering cries of horror the 
while. We fancied that those jaws of eighteen inches, 
and armed with sixty- seven long sharp teeth, were at 
our heels. At length we stopped. " Sure as a gun," 
said I, " he is dangerously wounded, and these movements 
of the tail are either the last convulsions of expiring 
life, or merely the agitation of the water which we set 
in motion." This tail, too, was to me a subject of serious 
reflection. Eeport said it was excellent for culinary 
purposes ; it would serve therefore to save, in a very 
satisfactory way, our provisions of dried and smoked 
meat. Having recharged my pistol and rifle, we re- 
turned, but the crocodile had not moved. I fired point- 
blank into his eye, and under the shoulder, not indeed 
without trembling a little. He was dead at last, there 
could be no doubt about it now. In length he mea- 
sured ten feet, and in circumference, round the middle 
of the carcass, four feet. He was a little too heavy to 
be carried by two men. We therefore abandoned him 
for the moment, half plunged in the water and mud, 
with his belly turned up to the sun, and off we started 
for Castroville, to procure assistance and announce our 
victory. Although crocodiles are not rare in the Medina, 
still they are very seldom killed. The news caused quite 
a sensation in the town. A waggon set out without 
delay, followed by a veritable procession as uproarious 
and as gay as one can well imagine. The distance was 
six miles. It required six men to put the animal into 
the waggon. Although killed in the morning, it did 



our church. 



55 



not reach our garden until the evening. On opening it 
we found in the stomach two stones as large as the fist, 
six others as large as hens' eggs, besides a great quan- 
tity of pebbles. Add to this seven or eight entire 
lobsters. The cooking of it was a real fete. It is only 
the fleshy portions of the tail that are eaten. We dis- 
tributed it liberally. The flesh did not strike me as 
well flavoured. It was but too evident that the animal 
had lain in the mud during the hottest part of the day. 
There also emanated from it a powerful odour of musk, 
which got into our heads, and destroyed our appetites. 
This odour remained in our clothes for more than a 
week afterwards. 

Sometimes I took out the boys of the school for a 
walk. In winter they collected fire-wood and wild 
salad for their families ; while in summer they gathered 
flowers and moss for the church altar. These walks 
delighted them ; and they cherished the tenderest love 
for him who afforded them this enjoyment. Still I durst 
not allow them this pleasure too often, as I feared to 
expose them to the danger of being bitten by serpents, 
or pricked by the thorns of the cactus, whose wounds 
are very painful, and sometimes very slow in healing. 
To save them from these accidents, it was necessary 
in certain places to carry them one by one in my arms 
from one spot to another. I was also obliged to ex- 
amine with the greatest care the salad they had col- 
lected, for in. the neighbourhood of Castroville there is 
found an herb which resembles it very much, and is 
of such a deadly nature that the Indians employ it to 
poison their arrows. On one occasion an entire family, 
consisting of six persons, died at Vandenberg in the 
most excruciating tortures after partaking of it. 

E 4 



56 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Our church was a small hut, constructed of earth and 
wood. Only a very few families could find accommo- 
dation in it, while the great bulk of the congregation were 
obliged to assist at mass, and the other offices of reli- 
gion outside. We borrowed a small bell from a Swiss 
colonist, who, according to the custom of his country, 
had it suspended from his cow's neck. On the roof 
of the church, four pieces of wood surmounted by a 
cross were adjusted, and this was the belfry. Not- 
withstanding the smallness of the bell, the air is so 
pure in Texas, that its tinklings were heard over all 
the town, and even far away on the plain, and in the 
mountains, more particularly in the morning and 
evening. 

Already the zeal of the Abbe Dubuis for the reli- 
gious, moral, and material amelioration of the colonists 
was producing its fruits. The people began to sanctify 
the Sunday, and were losing the habit of working on 
that day, with a view of reposing the next in drunk- 
enness and debauchery. Warnings, too, which the Al- 
mighty vouchsafed them, strengthened the preachings 
of the good missionary. Numerous accidents befell 
those colonists who worked on Sundays. In the end, 
all felt the obligation of keeping holy the Sabbath day. 
On Sundays before and after the exercises of religion, 
and on week days after work, we had numerous visits 
from those who sought our counsel with reference to 
the management and improvement of their farms. The 
colonists even submitted their litigated points to the 
Abbe Dubuis, and invariably abided by his decisions. 
They regarded in the missionary not merely the priest 
who instructs, encourages, and consoles, but further also, 
and more the practical man, who is acquainted with a 



THE MISSIONARY AND HIS MISSION. 



57 



thousand means of conquering the material necessities of 
life, of rendering the soil productive, of augmenting its 
resources; in a word they looked upon him as a father 
of a family, who provides for all the necessities of his 
children, both physical and moral, entirely forgetting 
himself for their sakes, and enduring on their behalf 
fatigues and privations of all sorts. And thus we were 
wholly devoted to our flocks, and to the furtherance 
of their interests spiritual and temporal. The tender 
piety of our people, the poverty of our little church, 
the simplicity of our ceremonies, frequently touched my 
heart ; and many a time, while I held in my hands our 
only ostensory of plain wood, which contained the most 
sacred Host, tears of joy fell from my eyes. Ah ! in 
the noble cathedrals of France, how full of splendour 
is religion in the external pomp of her ceremonial. 
Gold and silver, and thousands of lights, dazzle the eye, 
and speak to the imagination ; here, on the contrary, 
everything speaks to the heart, and transports it 
burning with love to the throne of God. 

Every Sunday, at ten o'clock, was celebrated the 
adorable sacrifice of the mass. The music was very 
good. We had organised a choir, which succeeded 
beyond our expectation. At three o'clock the faithful 
assembled to say the rosary. This exercise was fol- 
lowed by vespers and the benediction of the most 
Blessed Sacrament. The paschal solemnity of 1849 
was truly consoling to us. All the Catholics of Castro- 
ville, with very few exceptions, approached the holy 
table. I had resolved that our little chapel should be 
decked out and wear quite a festive air for this so- 
lemnity, so I commenced its decoration the previous 
evening, and borrowed all the shawls and pieces of 



58 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



finery, and candlesticks, to be found in Castroville. I 
even procured two small doors to construct lateral 
altars. The muslin curtains and shawls served as 
tapestry. I turned wooden vases in a lathe, and gilded 
them. In these I placed flowers of every hue and 
size, which I had gathered in the woods and open 
country. All this magnificence filled the colonists 
with astonishment. Next day the Catholics of the 
town, and of the surrounding country, assisted at 
the celebration of the Divine Mysteries, with feel- 
ings of profound reverence, on bended knees, bare- 
headed, and regardless of the burning sun, which 
darted its rays upon them. Poor isolated congregation ! 
How lively, sincere, touching, was this piety on that 
day ! The Almighty must have looked down with 
complacency on the little corner of earth where thou 
ofFeredst up thy prayers ! How favourably did thy 
piety contrast with the wavering, lukewarm piety of 
the city population of Europe ! In deserts and solitude, 
the blessings of religion are so much the more fully ap- 
preciated, as they are rarely accorded. Human insti- 
tutions, for the protection of life and property, either do 
not exist, or are, at best, very inefficient. Man seems 
placed more immediately under the immediate pro- 
tection of his Creator, and hence it comes that he 
raises his eyes and heart unto Him with greater 
facility and truth. 

At this time I received from my bishop a letter, 
in which the good prelate expresses all his tender so- 
licitude for our poor mission This, too, would 

form a magnificent chapter of all his labours and 
sacrifices ! Poor like ourselves, the bishop was obliged 
to perform all the menial offices of his house, as well as 



PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC LIBERALITY. 



59 



to teach and administer the sacrament, as a simple 
priest. Many are not aware, perhaps, that missionary 
bishops and priests receive no salary, either from go- 
vernment, or from the church, or from individuals. 
Their only resources for subsistence, maintenance, 
journeys, building of churches, hospitals, schools, con- 
vents, and colleges, are derived from their own in- 
dustry, the offerings of their families, who in general 
are very poor, and public or private charity, with some 
aid from the Propagation of the Faith. All this is but 
a mere trifle, when in presence of necessities so great 
and so numerous. It is only within a few years that 
the Propagation of the Faith has disbursed for all the 
missions of the globe about three millions of francs. 
The revenue of each bishop is very slender, in every 
respect, the gross sum, on an average, not exceed- 
ing fourteen or fifteen thousand francs ; and this is 
diminished owing to the decreased value of money in 
foreign countries. A bishop who receives twenty thou- 
sand francs in the United States, that is, four thousand 
dollars, in reality only receives in value four thousand 
francs; for the dollar in the United States, as far as 
outlay is concerned, is equivalent to about a franc in 
French money. The receipts of the Propagation of the 
Faith, from its foundation in 1822 to 1846, that is to 
say, in twenty-four years, have amounted to about 
thirty millions. Now, the English Bible Society, which 
has been in existence only a few years, had disbursed 
in 1851 about ninety-five millions of francs. If to this 
sum we add the enormous outlays of the American 
Bible Society, the Hindoostan Society, and the Anglo- 
Indian and German Societies, for the diffusion of the 
Bible and religious books in India alone, we shall have 



GO 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



a total quite fabulous and incredible, and in com- 
parison with which the disbursements of the Propaga- 
tion of the Faith will appear as the grain of mustard 
seed mentioned in the Gospel. Still the work of the 
Propagation of the Faith, notwithstanding its insignifi- 
cance when compared with the wants of the missions 
or with the immense resources of the Protestant Bible 
Society, is blessed by God. and produces results of such 
magnitude, that those of our rich adversaries might be 
set down at zero, even according to their own avowal, 
in comparison with them. What secures our triumph 
in the propagation of the light of the Gospel is our self- 
abnegation, our devotedness, and our exclusive and un- 
changeable confidence in God. "With us, labourers in 
the Lord's vineyard are wanted ; but the Almighty 
visibly protects us, and rewards all our labours and 
fatigues. Protestant missionaries, on the other hand, 
largely recompensed as they are by Governments and 
Bible Societies, exhibit little of devotedness or self- 
denial in the working of the mission. They are persons 
who live in the midst of ease and comfort : and, having 
powerful aids to back and support them, they amass 
worldly wealth and riches in the exercise of an easy 
ministry, which is productive of no fruit whatever, 
except for the missionaries themselves. In a word, 
they receive a great deal, and give but little. We, on 
the contrary, receive nothing, and give all, even our 
lives ; and thus it is that the poverty of our mission- 
aries is extreme. One time, the Abbe Dubuis fancied that 
he stood in need of a necessary article of dress. Well, 
out of a blue cotton petticoat, which a widower had 
given on the occasion of his wife's death, he made for 
himself a pair of pantaloons. On another occasion, he 



PRIVATIONS AND DEVOTEDNESS. 



61 



prayed his congregation to pardon him if he did not 
preach to them ; his strength was not equal to it, he 
said ; he had not touched food for forty-eight hours ! 
For a long time we had only one cassock between us ; 
so that whilst one said mass, the other walked about in 
his shirt- sleeves. I met the missionary priest of Bra- 
zoria on one occasion. The good man's pantaloons were 
of a blue colour, and very wide ; his coat, of black 
cotton velvet ; the shape and colour of his hat baffled all 
description. A kind of old tin bath, without a bottom, 
served him for bed, altar to say mass, and dining-table. 
What efforts of management and industry, what ob- 
stacles to surmount, what miseries to undergo, in these 
solitudes, in order to support life, to establish a church 
and a school, and secure a prosperous future to the 
mission ! Surely, the missionaries cannot expect that 
Providence will come to their aid on every occasion by 
a miraculous interposition ; but at least (thanks to God!) 
those distant regions are frequently witnesses of pro- 
digies of energy, constancy, and patience. Let us not, 
however, expose all the wretchedness of the past ; let 
us rather throw over it the mantle of forgetfulness : 
God sees it all, and that is enough. 

And yet the missionary has greater need than others 
of good food, and material comforts, of every kind. 
Obliged to undergo unheard-of fatigues, he rests not 
quietly within doors, with his parishioners grouped 
around him, despatching the business of the mission 
without rising from his seat. At every instant we must 
set out for distant colonies intrusted to our care 7 and 
which are spread over an immense surface. We per- 
form these long journeys sometimes on horseback, and 
sometimes in a rickety waggon : we rarely go on foot ; 



62 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



besides the fatigue, it would be attended with great 
danger. Sometimes the route is uncertain. In order 
not to lose our way, it is necessary to make all the 
little observations by which an experienced traveller is 
guided. Every sign is to be studied — the bark of 
the trees, the shades of which indicate north or south ; 
the branches and foliage, the bend of which points out 
the direction of the trade winds ; the tracks of animals, 
and the marks of man and wheels, when they are to be 
found. 

My first excursion was to the colony of Dhanis, 
thirty-five miles west of Castroville. An Alsacian, 
who had served in Africa, offered his services to take 
me there on his waggon, drawn by oxen. It was in 
winter, while the days were short and the weather very 
inclement, owing to the north wind, which brought with 
it from the Rocky Mountains a piercing cold, which 
froze my very vitals. In addition to this, there was a 
dense fog, a thing of rare occurrence in those countries. 
We had hardly entered the Chaparal, situate on the hills 
which are in the neighbourhood of Castroville, when we 
found it impossible to see our way, and no alternative 
was left us but to bivouac in the open copse- wood. It 
was the first time that I had nassed the night sub diva. 
and^ for the moment, I feared it would be my last. My 
companion unyoked his oxen, while I broke down 
boughs of the mesquite, and heaped together a quantity 
of dry wood for a fire. This operation was by no 
means an easy one, for the darkness was so great, that 
I could not move a pace without risk of losing my way. 
The Alsacian coming to my aid, we collected a large 
quantity of fire-wood, which it was necessary to use 
thriftily, as the night was very long. Then, enveloped 



FIRST EXCURSION. 



63 



in our blankets, we stretched ourselves on the earth, with 
our feet towards the fire, for a night's repose. But such 
repose ! Thanks to the fog, I felt, at the end of half-an- 
hour, as if I were in an iced bath. The fire scorched 
my feet, whilst my teeth chattered with cold. I shivered 
all over, and was so stiff that I could hardly move, while 
the Alsacian, who was the stronger man, and used to 
campaigning, snored as lustily as if he were at home 
in his bed. I had neither courage nor strength to 
awaken him, but lay on my bed of stone and mud, 
doubtful as to whether I should ever rise from it. Be- 
fore daybreak, the Alsacian woke up, and came over to 
me. He heard my dying voice, took me in his arms, 
and laid me before the fire, which he renewed with 
branches and briers. Animation was restored by de- 
grees. After a little, I could move my limbs, and, as 
there were none of them frozen, we were able to resume 
our journey. But our oxen had disappeared in the fog. 
Here was a business. We set about looking for them, 
each at his own side, and groping our way as we pro- 
ceeded. After marches and counter-marches to no effect, 
I at last perceived, at an opening, the footmarks of ani- 
mals on the grass. These I followed for a long distance ; 
but fearing lest I might lose my way, I retraced my 
steps. Suddenly we heard, at no great distance from 
us, the crackling of branches, which were trodden down 
under the steps of some large animal. Arriving on the 
spot, we found that it was our oxen, which were crop- 
ping the trees hard by our bivouac, and which appeared 
quite unconscious that we had given ourselves so much 
trouble on their account. We had lost two or three 
hours in useless search, so, without further loss of time, 
we again yoked our beasts, and set out. 



64 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



The Chaparal in which we passed the night, had been 
fatal to many a colonist who went there to gather 
wood or nuts. One of the first missionaries of the 
colony lost his way in it, and was never afterwards 
heard of. Those who went to look for him, found the 
bleached skeletons of many colonists who had come by 
their death there, sitting at the foot of a tree with their 
sacks still full of nuts. 

The sun burst forth at last, and chased away the 
fog. The route, which was soon lit up and warmed by 
his rays, has something truly wild and tropical about it. 
The cactus and the Mexican agaves abound in the 
greatest variety, growing here as luxuriantly as under 
the equator. In this part of Texas you frequently 
meet dry beds of rivers. Sometimes, too, the rivers 
are intermitting, appearing for a while, then dis- 
appearing they are lost to your sight. I stopped for 
a short time at Quihi, a small Alsacian colony, twelve 
miles from Castroville, frequently visited by Indians. 
Once a colonist named Meyer was seized here by 
the Comanches, bound to a tree, and transfixed by 
their arrows. On another occasion, an Alsacian woman 
was made prisoner by the ferocious Red Skins, and 
carried oif on horseback ; but profiting by a favourable 
moment she slipped from their grasp, and galloped off 
at the top of her horse's speed, while the Indians gave 
chase, and pierced her body with their lances and 
arrows. Still she succeeded in effecting her escape, not- 
withstanding all her wounds. But the shock was too 
much for her; for in a short time after the poor creature 
became a maniac. 

Seven miles from Quihi is Yandenberg, another Alsa- 
cian colony, where we remained to dine. In a small 



COLONY OF DHANIS. 



valley near tins latter village we found, strewn on the 
earth in myriads, balls of native ore of various sizes and 
covered with a calcareous coating. But for want of suffi- 
cient fuel, this mine, lying on the earth's surface, is turned 
to no account. From this place to Dhanis the route lies 
through a country wilder than we had yet crossed, and 
much frequented by the Indians. In a vast prairie we 
found a natural road traced out by the constant incur- 
sions of these people. At every instant we saw herds of 
deer, which appeared quite tame, and looked at us, as 
we passed, with astonishment. It is here, too, in these 
solitudes that the Mexican lion is met with, which 
rather resembles the lioness of our menageries than the 
king of the forest. Fatigued and bewildered as much 
by these ever-shifting pictures and the ideas they gave 
rise to, as by the joltings of our waggon, we arrived at 
length at the end of our journey. It was night. My 
companion treated me to a part of his bed. Like all 
the cabins in the thinly-peopled regions of Mexico, 
his cabin was a square formed of stakes, driven into the 
earth and joined and kept together by other vertical 
stakes, or by thongs of leather. The roof was of 
thatch. He offered me a glass of whisky, the very 
smell of which gave me headache. 

Of all our colonies Dhanis was the most exposed to 
the Indians. In five weeks they had paid three visits, 
obliging the people each time to furnish them with 
food, tobacco, and powder. With a view of preventing 
the recurrence of such disorders, the government 
established a military camp two miles from Dhanis. 
Wild animals abound in the neighbourhood of this 
colony. On one occasion during mass, which was 

F 



66 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



celebrated in a wooden hut, the dogs commenced 
barking in a most terrible manner. My Alsacian 
seized his rifle, left the cabin, and went out to see the 
cause of the noise. It was an enormous panther, which 
chased by the dogs, had taken refuge in a tree near the 
cabin which served us as a chapel. To see the beast 
and shoot it dead, was for my friend the work of an 
instant. Another time an ill-advised boar, attracted 
no doubt by the chant, entered the chapel whilst we 
were at vespers. His curiosity cost him dearly. He 
was killed on the spot, and eaten next day. 

I had come to Dhanis to baptize two children of an 
Alsacian. Being as yet, at that epoch, little acquainted 
with German, I had written on a scrap of paper the 
word taufen (to baptize) in order not to confound it 
with Jcaufen (to purchase), or verkaufen (to sell), 
words which were ever resounding in my ears. Un- 
fortunately, setting out, I forgot the paper, and the 
three words were so confounded in my memory that I 
had no means of discovering the one which was so in- 
dispensable to me. Trusting to my good star, I directed 
my steps towards the father's house, and seeing a man 
on the threshold of the cabin I inquired of him, after 
the usual salutations, had he any children to ... . ver- 
kaufen (to sell)? By the surprise and wrath depicted 
in the Alsacian's countenance, I at once discovered that 
I had employed the wrong word, and accordingly asked 
him if he had not two children to . . . kaufen (to buy?) 
This time, his patience gave way, and I received a 
broadside of such energetic compliments, which I 
understood one way or other, that I shall not now 
attempt to translate them. At last as there was but 



TRUSTING MY GOOD STAR. 



67 



one other word to pronounce, I was sure there would 
be no mistake this time, so letting pass the avalanche 
of abuse which I had brought down upon me, I said to 
him, with all mildness : 4 4 If it is neither to sell nor to 
buy, then it must be to baptize." My friend looked 
at me fixedly, and in the end discovered, by my 
appearance and dress, that I might be the priest who 
had come to baptize his two children. Having made 
this discovery, he burst out into fits of endless laughter, 
and the infection seizing me, I imitated his uproarious 
hilarity. This over, we settled on the hour and place 
when the ceremony should take place. Since then I 
never trusted to my bonne etoile. 

I returned to Castroville, alone, and on horseback. 
It was evening when I reached the town. The Abbe Du- 
buis had already arrived from an excursion in the east. 
Seated by the fireside, we recounted our adventures, 
and the impressions of our respective journeys. Then 
memory carried us away, naturally enough, to France, 
our families, and our friends ; — subjects ever full of 
charms, and upon which we always returned with re- 
newed pleasure. Who can describe the joy felt by a 
missionary, condemned to isolation, obliged to con- 
centrate within himself his feelings and ideas, separated 
from his flock as much by the difficulty of expressing 
himself in their language as by the difference of position 
and intelligence, when he finds a friend, and can freely 
unbosom to him all his thoughts and feelings ? And if 
this friend be a fellow-countryman and a confrere, the 
charm of these conversations makes the hours pass like 
sweet dreams, lightly and rapidly. But, alas ! these 
evenings of delightful intercourse, when there was a 

F 2 



68 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



free and mutual interchange of thoughts and feelings, 
were very rare. Our missionary duties kept us always 
on horseback, galloping across woods and plains. The 
fire was dying away, the dawn was brightening the 
prairie, and we were still recounting our adventures, 
and talking over the mission, and our absent kinsfolk 
and friends, and the old country. 



69 



CHAP. III. 

AN ALARM. — SCENES IN THE WILDERNESS. — THE CAMP OF THE 
LEONA. — EXPEDITION TO PASO-DEL-NORTE. — STEEPLE-CHASE ON 
A WILD HORSE. — FREDERICKSBURG. — RUINS OF THE SPANISH 
MISSIONS. — SUNSET. — THE CAMP OF SAN ANTONIO. A DIS- 
AGREEABLE RENCOUNTER. — BRAUNFELS. 

It will be remembered that our pastoral duties extended 
to the Catholic soldiers who served in the American 
army. One morning a soldier came from the camp at 
Dhanis, with two good horses, and asked me to go and 
see one of his comrades, who had need of my ministry. 
He was a gallant Irishman, whose only fault was an 
insatiable thirst for whisky. He regretted having left 
his own beautiful country, and spoke with bitterness of 
heart of the cruel treatment which the Catholic soldiers 
received at the hands of Protestant officers. In these 
isolated camps the soldiers are quite at the mercy of 
their commanders, who feel or entertain a deep-rooted, 
innate hatred for Irishmen and the Catholic religion. 
The most barbarous chastisements are inflicted for 
offences which in France would be fully expiated by a 
few hours' imprisonment. I have seen soldiers suspended 
by the arms from the branches of trees for drunkenness. 
Sometimes, too, they tie their arms and legs, and fling 
them repeatedly into a river, and then drag them to 
the bank with a cord. A soldier, stricken with a severe 
malady, lay on his bed of suffering in chains. He died 
in his chains; and, perhaps, in consequence of being 

F 3 



70 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



kept chained. The surgeon and commanding officer 
were, it is true, brought to trial, for the public voice 
accused them loudly of murder ; but their judges, who 
were quite as intolerant as the accused in matters of 
caste and religion, acquitted them. Happily, such 
cases of cruelty as the above-mentioned are rare. They 
are individual acts for which, ordinarily speaking, the 
American officers, who in general are men distinguished 
alike for their high intelligence and accomplishments, 
are in nowise responsible. Still these cruelties serve to 
nurture a bitter animosity in the hearts of the Irish 
soldiers, and to teach them that the liberty, equality, 
and fraternity of the United States are either hollow 
phrases, or applied ironically to European novices. 

At the camp of Dhanis I baptized a sergeant's child. 
The sponsor on the occasion was the farrier of the 
company : the poor fellow was killed the same afternoon, 
by an Indian who was lurking about the tents, seeking 
an opportunity to steal some of our horses. I intended 
to make an excursion as far as the camp called Fort- 
Inge, forty-seven miles from Dhanis, and more than 
eighty miles west of Castro ville. The major promised me 
a good mule for the journey. I therefore resolved to re- 
main for the night at the camp, and start at sunrise next 
morning for the Leona. The doctor, a Scotchman by 
birth, but of French extraction, took a great liking to 
me, and offered me half his tent, and a bed for the 
night. I accepted the kind offer with pleasure. While 
supper was preparing we went out, at the risk of meet- 
ing Indians, to search for fossils on the banks of the 
Rio-Seco, which runs near the tents. Fossils abound 
in the bed of this river. Besides shells, the calcareous 
molecules of which were replaced by molecules of iron, 



THE ALARM. 



71 



we found a petrified oyster, eighteen inches long, and 
weighing fourteen pounds. During the night we were 
aroused from sleep by two shots fired by the sentinel 
who was guarding the horses. The circumstance which 
led to this incident was this. The commandant's cook, 
purposing to make some cakes for the next day, went 
out to collect wood wherewith to heat the oven. Un- 
fortunately, he directed his steps to where the horses 
were picketed. The murder committed during the 
day had aroused the vigilance of the sentinel ; he 
hearing footfalls, and being prevented by the obscurity 
of the night from recognising the cook, cried out, — - 
" Who goes there ? " There was no reply. Off went a 
shot in the direction of the noise. " Who goes there ?" 
again shouted the sentinel. Same silence. Off went 
another shot ; but this time the ball had struck some 
one. It was the poor cook, whom fear had rendered 
dumb and motionless. The ball had caused a slight 
flesh wound. By this time the entire camp was on 
foot. Every one rushed to the scene of action ; soldiers 
with their muskets and sabres, officers with swords and 
pistols. Every one carried a lantern or some light or 
other. But if it be a fact that all were armed and 
furnished with lights, it is also true that not a single 
individual was completely dressed. As soon as the 
doctor declared that the cook was more frightened than 
hurt, each returned to his bed. It was then I cast a 
glance on the actors in this scene, the most novel I had 
ever witnessed, inasmuch as shirts and night-caps were 
the prevailing costumes. In a few minutes all had re- 
tired to their tents. 

The following morning a soldier was absent from the 
muster-roll. He was subsequently found bathed in his 

F 4 



72 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



blood. Unable to endure the hardships of the service, 
and the brutality of the officers, the unfortunate fellow 
had cut his throat with a razor. In these (extraordi- 
nary) countries one sees a great deal in a short time. 
I took my departure sick at heart. Scenes like those 
I have just described work deep furrows in the heart. 
They wear out a man, and that quickly. 

On leaving the camp at Dhanis, I traversed a eha- 
paral of a most diversified character, covered with oaks 
and mesquites. A series of small hills, which I was 
obliged to cross, rose and fell on a calcareous base of 
diluvian formation. Six miles from the camp I wit- 
nessed a most shocking spectacle. Seven Mexicans lay 
on the grass, pierced with arrows, scalped, and mangled. 
A heap of white ashes, still warm, showed that they had 
been surprised at their encampment the preceding night. 
There was a waggon near the spot, but the oxen had 
been taken away — the chests with which it had been 
laden broken open, and their contents rifled and carried 
off. Black vultures were bearing away in their beaks 
pieces of human flesh. Fearing lest I, too, might be 
surprised by the Indians, and meet the same fate as the 
Mexicans, I continued my route without stopping. 

I entered a vast and undulating prairie which re- 
sembled an immense cemetery (which had been aban- 
doned), where every grave formed a funereal wave. 
Here and there, at long intervals, mesquites with 
gnarled branches displayed their foliage of bluish green. 
Clumps of acacias too were distributed in the most ca- 
pricious way over this plain. The plain itself was covered 
with the most fertile pastures. Herds of deer were 
quietly browsing on the rich herbage, and seemed quite 
heedless of my presence. A stag, which lay with his 



WILDERNESS SCENES. 



73 



whole family by the way side, suffered me to approach 
without moving. In the foreground, along the northern 
horizon, were wooded hills. Over these rose giant 
mountains, some of which stood out against the sky 
with their ridges of granite — others displayed their 
reddish summits— whilst others were clad in sombre 
verdure. This magnificent landscape, wherein the wild 
struggled for pre-eminence with the sublime, was steeped 
in floods of light which rendered vague and aerial both 
colour and form. I was deeply struck with it; and 
would have spent hours in meditation on the wonderful 
w r orks of God, lost, as it were, in these boundless soli- 
tudes of America. 

In the middle of this prairie I crossed, dry-footed, the 
Rio-Bianco ; this river must have ceased to flow for 
many years, for its bed is filled up with sand, and 
acacias of enormous size, and oaks, and sycamores, are 
growing in it. I crossed the Rio-Frio about an hour 
before sunset. The river is broad but very shallow. 
The water is cold, blue, limpid, and pleasant. My mule 
and myself stopped a minute or two in the middle of the 
stream to refresh ourselves. The left bank is covered 
with a white sand, very fine and brilliant, in which grow 
a few stunted mesquites. The right bank, on the con- 
trary, is rocky, and covered with trees and luxuriant 
plants. 

At some miles from the camp of the Leona, I witnessed 
another sight, as hideous as that which had filled me 
with such horror in the morning, near the camp of 
Dhanis. A woman was bound to a tree, and entirely 
scalped. The poor creature still gave signs of life. At 
her feet lay three Mexicans scalped also, but quite dead. 
They had received numerous lance wounds. Their 



74 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



bodies were literally bristling with arrows. Their blood 
was already clotted ; around the woman's mouth was a 
quantity of bloody hair, which showed that the Indians 
had endeavoured to make her eat the scalp of one of her 
companions. Thousands of wasps buzzed voraciously 
about the four victims. I clashed off to the camp for 
aid, and arrived there in less than an hour. A phy- 
sician, followed by a strong escort provided with a 
stretcher, came for the woman, and conveyed her to the 
hospital. Fifteen days afterwards she lingered still, and 
hopes of saving her life eventually were entertained. 
Were these hopes well grounded ? It happens but very 
rarely, notwithstanding all that romance writers have 
said to the contrary, that the victim survives the ter- 
rible operation of scalping. In 1849, more than two 
hundred persons, to my own knowledge, were scalped in 
the west of Texas, and they all succumbed save this 
poor woman, who enjoyed perad venture the very equi- 
vocal advantage of a more protracted suffering before 
her death. It is true I saw at San Antonio a man who 
had been scalped ; but he had been scalped in a wood, 
and was thus protected from the sun's rays. Besides, 
immediate remedies were applied in his case ; two most 
essential conditions, which are rarely fulfilled in places 
where the Indians exercise their fury. 

The colonel who commanded the camp of the Leona 
was an old student of Saumur. He received me with 
the greatest kindness and placed a large and well-fur- 
nished tent at my disposal. All the Catholic soldiers 
had full liberty to visit me when they pleased. I visited 
the immense tent which served them for an hospital, 
and which contained fourteen or fifteen patients, all Ca- 
tholics and Irishmen. Notwithstanding their sufferings, 



IRISH CATHOLICS. 



75 



they received me with a joy which deeply affected me. 
I sat by their bedsides and talked to them of their homes 
and their holy religion. My visits were long and use- 
ful, and attended with solid results. 

I have never found more faith, more resignation, or 
deeper feelings of religion than in the Irish, and parti- 
cularly in those who were the most unfortunate, and 
the most severely tried. They love and revere all 
God's ministers, no matter from what part of the world 
they come ; and for the French missionaries, in parti- 
cular, they have always manifested a peculiar attach- 
ment. The Irish are the most generous people in the 
world, and the most devoted to works of piety. In this 
respect there is no difference between rich and poor. 
The poor sometimes give beyond their means, and 
without ever reflecting that they thus deprive them- 
selves of what is necessary to prevent them falling 
themselves into distress and misery. This little 
digression is to me a duty of gratitude towards this 
people, so much misunderstood and calumniated, and 
in whom I have seen so much to admire and esteem. 

The morning after my arrival, before breakfast, I 
visited a small hill of volcanic formation, at the foot of 
which the camp was situated. It was a fatiguing task 
for me to clamber over high rocks, heaped one upon 
another, in the intervals of which grew acacias of 
immense size. The summit of the Mamelon was bare. 
The rocks were black, as though they had been car- 
bonised by a subterranean fire long since extinguished. 
From the top of this hill you command a view remark- 
able only for its immensity. Nothing varies the 
landscape. The little river, the Leona, abounding in 
fish, and covered with water-lilies, wound gracefully 



76 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



round the camp, under a verdant canopy. During the 
day, I went in company with the colonel and his family 
to botanise in a neighbouring wood. 

The American government had charged a commission 
to proceed to Paso-del-Norte, by Texas, with a view of 
ascertaining whether this route is better and shorter 
than the route by the Missouri and Santa Fe. The 
commission was composed of engineers and professors 
of natural history. They had an escort of two hundred 
soldiers with them, to defend them against the Indians. 
In this train were three hundred waggons, laden with 
provisions, and a large number of horses, mules, and 
oxen. The object of the commission was to secure 
advantages at once scientific and commercial. This 
twofold object was fully attained, and many precious 
discoveries were made in botany and zoology. They 
found, in a valley, specimens of the cactus, from five to 
six feet in diameter. These cactuses were conical in form, 
and covered with fruits and flowers, and so heavy, that 
it required six mules to draw one of them in a waggon. 
A fossil mastodon was found almost entire in a grotto 
in the middle of a rock. The expedition traversed 
prairies fifty miles in length, and without rivulet or 
spring. The supply of water for men and animals was 
brought enormous distances in huge casks. The com- 
missioners, in their journey, passed the River of the 
Devil. This river has so many windings that they 
were obliged to cross it seven times before they reached 
Paso-clel-Norte. In some places its banks are so 
steep, that they were obliged to throw bridges of 
ropes across, and to construct rafts for the passage of 
the cattle. 

On its return, the expedition passed by the camp of 



STEEPLE CHASE. 



77 



the Leona, where I met it. The travellers, at a sump- 
tuous banquet, given in their honour by the colonel, re- 
lated their adventures and discoveries ; and so interested 
was I by their recitals, that I resolved to accompany 
them next day. Still, as the Abbe Dubuis might be 
uneasy at my prolonged absence, I begged the colonel to 
lend me a horse, which would take me in a few hours to 
the camp of Dhanis, where I promised to leave the animal, 
and take a fresh horse to carry me on the same day to 
Castroville. The colonel kindly acceded to my request. 
Accordingly I left the camp at sunrise, in company 
with the travellers. After two hours, I pursued my 
solitary journey at the top of my horse's speed, lest I 
should fall in with Indians. When I arrived at the camp 
of Dhanis, I was in a bath of perspiration, and my horse 
covered with foam. I went straightway to the com- 
mandant, to pray him to lend me another without delay. 

" Do you dream of such a thing ? " said he to me. 
" To ride eighty miles the same day ! Better rest a 
little, and you can start again to-morrow morning." 
" No, no ; I must arrive at Castroville this evening.'' 
" The thing is difficult, but it is possible. Do you 
ride well ? " 

* I have never been taught to ride. But once on a 
horse's back, I fall only when the horse falls." 

" That 's all that 's required. Would you like a — ?" 
Here he made use of the word wild, which conveyed to 
me the idea of mettlesome, instead of the word mustang. 

I understood him to oifer me a very spirited horse. 
And, suspecting that he wished to frighten me, I 
replied firmly, " I desire nothing better. I '11 go all the 
quicker on that account." Whereupon he sent for the 
horse, and I saw the animal, as he approached, full of fire, 



78 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



and held with difficulty by four dragoons, whom he 
tossed from one side to the other, although his legs had 
been previously tied. At a glance I recognised a real 
mustang, a wild horse of the prairies. I was almost 
sure of breaking my neck if I mounted such an animal ; 
and the imminent peril made my heart beat in a most 
unpleasant way. But not wishing to give Americans 
an opportunity to jeer at a Frenchman, and above all at 
a Catholic priest, I summoned up all my courage, and 
prepared to mount. 

"Are you really bent upon mounting this horse?" 
inquired the officer, who no doubt began to feel twitches 
of remorse at exposing me to such danger. " Recollect 
that he has been only mounted twice, and that it is but 
two days since he was nigh breaking my leg." 

" Captain," I replied, proudly, " have the horse held 
fast until I am on his back. Then give him his head." 

Taking hold of the mane with one hand, and the 
saddle with the other, I endeavoured to put my foot in 
the stirrup, but all my efforts and ingenuity were un- 
availing, the horse all the time was plunging from one 
side to the other, and making desperate bounds. My 
honour was at stake; I retired one or two paces behind, 
then made a spring, and was in the saddle. Having 
thrust my feet quickly into the stirrups, and holding 
the bridle w T ith both hands, I ordered them to loose the 
thongs which bound his legs, and to give the horse his 
liberty. 

Off he started, rushed down the hill, and crossed the 
river in the twinkling of an eye, amid the hurrahs of the 
Irish soldiers who had assembled to witness the scene, 
and who exulted in my triumph. I was barely able to 
keep the mustang's head in the right direction ; he bore 



STEEPLE CHASE. 



79 



me along with such speed, that I felt a dizziness in the 
head; at every stump of a tree, at every plant of any- 
thing like fantastic shape, he started aside so suddenly, 
that I was many times in great danger of being flung 
from the saddle and rolled in the dust. Thanks to God 
I held fast. After an hour's furious speed the mustang 
became knocked up a little, and I was then able to di- 
rect his pace. Arrived at Yandenberg, I made no stay, 
notwithstanding my fatigue and hunger, and. having 
hastily drunk off a bowl of milk, I resumed my journey. 
Some panther skins which had been spread out to dry 
frightened my horse, and he dashed through an open- 
ing into an inclosure where a few bulls were peacefully 
chewing the cud. Instantly, as we appeared, up started 
the bulls and commenced bellowing most terrifically. 
The horse, terror-stricken, cleared at one prodigious 
bound the wall of the inclosure. I remained in the sad- 
dle, I know not how ; and now we sped through the air 
more furiously than ever. At length, near Quihi, the 
horse dashed aside at the sight of a rattlesnake, and in 
his fright struck against the trunk of a tree and so hurt 
himself that he was thenceforward obliged to hobble 
along at a very moderate pace. Although nearly worn 
out by fatigue and exhaustion, I dismounted, to give 
some ease to the poor animal, and leading him by the 
bridle I made the twelve miles which still lay between 
me and Castroville on foot. Notwithstanding the delay, 
I arrived before the night set in, and having handed 
over the poor disabled animal to the sheriff to be sent 
back to the camp of the Leona, I went to bed. On that 
clay, having made sixty-eight miles on horseback and 
twelve on foot, under a burning sun, without food or 
repose, and at the horse's utmost speed, I was so knocked 



80 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



up and exhausted that I could not eat any supper, so 
threw myself into my hammock with my clothes on, and 
was soon asleep, and dreaming of solitude, Indians, 
balls, and mustangs. 

The most difficult colony to attend of all those which 
composed our mission was Fredericksburg, situate a 
hundred miles north-west of San Antonio. The route 
is most dangerous on account of the ferocious Comanches 
bears, and rattlesnakes which abound there. Besides 
this it is cut up in different parts by torrents which it 
is necessary to cross sometimes by swimming. Other- 
wise the scenery is enchanting, picturesque, and moun- 
tainous. Before you reach the colony, you are obliged 
to pass through a little valley strewn with fragments of 
enormous rocks which seem to have been placed there 
by giant hands for the construction of a colossal temple. 
Near Fredericksburg is a mountain of white stone, soft 
as alabaster, of which the inhabitants make lustres and 
ornaments for chimney-pieces. The colony is composed 
of four thousand inhabitants, of whom two thousand 
are Eoman Catholics. When the Abbe Dubuis went there 
in 1849, to prepare the Catholics for their paschal com- 
munion, he had the consolation to see almost all the 
Catholics of the town and neighbouring country approach 
the holy table with sentiments of the most tender piety. 

When a missionary arrives in a town or village, his 
first care is to preach, and instruct the people, to teach 
the children their catechism, to prepare the children 
for their first communion, to administer the sacraments, 
and organise public prayers. The last day of his visit 
is consecrated to the general communion. At his de- 
parture, many females of that pious colony cast them- 
selves at the feet of M. Dubuis, beseeching him not to 



FREDERICKSBURG. 



81 



abandon them, but to return to his children as soon as 
possible ; or at least to send them a priest that they 
may not die without the aids and consolations of re- 
ligion. Alas! the good intentions of the missionaries 
are frequently unavailing. The harvest is plenteous, but 
the labourers are few. 

Thirty-five miles from Fredericksburg, towards the 
north, is the small colony called El Llano, from the 
river on which it is situated. The neighbourhood of this 
colony is rich in vegetation and game, wild turkeys 
and swans being very common. 

When Abbe Dubuis left Fredericksburg he took the 
northern route leading to the Mormon settlement, 
instead of the southern route which would bring him 
to San Antonio. As soon as he perceived his error he 
changed his direction, without, at the same time, re- 
tracing his steps. This course was the longest, but 
safest under the circumstances. Journeying along he 
saw a wood of wild cherry trees, which was an important 
discovery, inasmuch as up to that time the existence of 
the wild cherry tree was unknown in Texas. Further 
on he crossed a prairie where rattlesnakes were in such 
numbers that his principal care was to prevent his 
horse from treading on them and being bitten. Then 
came a thick forest, through which he found it difficult 
to work a passage. Twice in the clearings he discovered 
traces of a recent encampment of Red Skins. Mules had 
been killed and eaten by these Indians ; their bloody 
skeletons were lying near heaps of smouldering ashes. 
A kind of pathway which he followed conducted him 
to the steep bank of a broad river, which appeared to 
him to be the Colorado. For an instant he had the 
idea of abandoning his horse, swimming across the 

G 



82 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



river, and having climbed the opposite bank as well as 
he could, to continue his journey on foot. This plan, 
however, he renounced as being too difficult of execu- 
tion ; so putting his trust in God to direct his steps, he 
threw the reins on his horse's neck, and allowed the 
poor beast to choose the route he liked best. The horse, 
thus left to himself, brought him in less than an hour to 
a German farm-house, where he found a comfortable 
night's lodging. Hard by the farm was the route to 
San Antonio, which the Abbe pursued ; and he arrived 
without accident the second day afterwards. 

Whilst the Abbe Dubuis was journeying in the north, 
I was visiting the east in company with a French mis- 
sionary, who had come to see us. I commenced with the 
two ancient Spanish missions of San Jose and Concepcion, 
which presented nothing but ruins. These missions 
are only two or three miles from San Antonio, and on a 
small river of the same name. The one is situate on 
the right bank, in the midst of a chaparal. The other, 
on J:he left bank, is hidden in a small wood, which com- 
pletely covers it with its gigantic trees. 

San Jose is still surrounded by a thick wall, which 
incloses one or two acres of land. Here rises a church 
of moderate size, beautiful in its proportions, rich in 
sculpture, with a graceful belfry. The entire facade is 
covered with arabesques and basso-relievos, which, unfor- 
tunately, have been defaced, broken, and maltreated in 
every way. The angels and saints too, in the niches, 
have been all mutilated by the shot of the Texians 
during the War of Independence. The doors and 
windows of the cloister and sacristy are richly orna- 
mented with carvings in the style of the Renaissance. 
Time is doing its work gradually on the edifice ; still 



RUINS OF THE SPANISH MISSIONS. 



83 



so powerful is the cement, that, unless aided by man's 
destructive hand, ages will roll on before they shall be 
able to separate one from another the stones of which 
it is constructed. The story goes, that this cement was 
mixed with the milk of cows and sheep ; and hence its 
indestructibility. In the olden times the Spaniards 
confined their Indian prisoners in asylums of this kind, 
where they were instructed by the Franciscans in re- 
ligion, agriculture, and various trades. The cabins of 
these Indians were built against the wall which sur- 
rounded the mission. Their descendants are, at the 
present day, established either at San Antonio, or on 
some other points along the river. At San Jose itself, 
only a few poor Indo-Mexican families remain, who 
cultivate a little maize. They live in the most shocking 
state of filth, and sleep at night near their wretched 
hovels, with the eternal cigarette ever in their hands. 
The vaults of the church, which in former times 
resounded with the hymns of divine praise, chanted by 
the full and powerful voices of the children of Texas, 
now-a-days hear nothing but the shrill squeaking of 
fabulous multitudes of dormice that have taken up their 
dwelling in these sacred ruins. Wide breaches in the 
walls give free access to wild beasts, Indians, and 
enormous waggons with their ponderous wheels, which 
are lazily dragged along by oxen. Seated under a fig- 
tree, Yv 7 ith feelings of deep grief I contemplated this 
work of devastation, consummated rather by man 
than by length of ages. The trees, and the white stone 
in its framework of vine leaves and creeping plants, 
stood out in graceful relief against a sky of sapphire. 
My imagination repeopled these deserts, and restored 
to the mission that life with which it was heretofore 



84 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



animated. I pictured to myself those ferocious Indians, 
rendered meek and docile by the teachings of Chris- 
tianity, listening with attention to the instructions of 
poor monks, who, clad in sackcloth of penance, had come 
nine thousand miles to labour for the happiness and 
civilisation of idolaters whose life was spent in murder 
and pillage. Oh ! it was then I appreciated the beau- 
tiful unselfishness of the Christian missionary ! how I 
loved that pious devotedness, which the worldly man 
admires sometimes, but never understands. With him 
proselytism is the work of a morbidly restless, fanatic 
spirit; and not the natural consequence of profound 
conviction, and of a sincere and generous love for the 
most suffering and at the same time the most abandoned 
portion of the human family. 

No doubt my companion also was indulging in similar 
reflections, in presence of the time-honoured ruins. He, 
too, viewed and admired them in silence. But we must 
depart. We crossed the San Antonio to visit Concepcion. 
The church is small and without ornament. The 
proximity of the river, and the coolness of the shades, 
must render Concepcion an agreeable retreat. We 
observed no wall. It had no doubt crumbled to ruin, 
and the high grass concealed every remaining vestige 
of it. A German farm-house is built against the church. 

We left for San Antonio, and having reached the 
great square of the town, I was accosted by an American 
officer, a Catholic, whom I had known in the United 
States. He informed me that he was quartered at the 
camp of San Antonio, which had been formed at the 
source of the river of the same name ; that he com- 
manded the camp, which was composed of about two 
hundred soldiers, almost all Catholics and Irishmen ; 



RUINS OF THE POWDER HOUSE. 85 

and that in a few days they would be ordered to 
another station, eighty miles north of Austin, where, 
in all probability, they would not have the ministry 
of a priest for a long time. I promised to visit him 
next day, and prayed him to announce my intention to 
his soldiers. 

Later in the day, I conducted my companion to a 
wooded hill to the east of San Antonio, where may be 
seen the ruins of a powder house, which would seem to 
be of comparatively recent date, and of Spanish con- 
struction. I should be inclined to think that this 
edifice had a more useful object than that of being the 
receptacle of a few barrels of powder. Most probably 
it was a fort which served as a watch tower whence 
to reconnoitre the movements of the Indians, and to 
protect the town. 

These ruins commanded a most magnificent prospect. 
To the east a lovely landscape unfolded itself, diver- 
sified with plains and little eminences, and here and 
there were clumps of beautiful trees; rich pasturage, 
where herds of oxen, horses, and sheep roamed at large, 
where were scattered the mesquite and the oak in all 
its majesty. To the north the mountains and hills, 
which bound the horizon, are sufficiently near to enable 
you to admire the countless varieties of beauty. At 
one time you are struck with the forms, either graceful 
or fantastic, which they assume. Then again it is their 
rich tints, and ever- varying hues which excite your 
admiration. To the west, in a valley, lies the town of 
San Antonio, surrounded by a doable row of brick 
cabins and reed huts, and intersected by a river, 
and by a small stream partially concealed by the 
foliage of Chinese lilacs. On the threshold of the 

a 3 



86 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



cabins, fires are lighted to cook the evening's repast, 
while women here and there are singins; and smoking, 
young maidens dancing and gambolling about, men lean- 
ing listlessly against fig-trees, playing on the mandoline in 
pensive mood. These picturesque scenes form a frame- 
work of marvellous beauty for the white outline of the 
Moorish town, and the dome of the church, which 
presides as queen over the picture. 

The sun was setting, but setting as he only sets in 
the tropics — gilding all nature — the heavens and the 
earth — with rays of gold. The azure of the firmament 
was disappearing amid dazzling floods of light. Trees 
and verdant plains, the city, the distant mountains, 
were lighted up as if by magic. The colours of the 
prism, warm and dazzling, covered all nature, whilst 
the great void was nought but fire and brightness. 
Sublime pictures, moving scenes, which remain eter- 
nally engraven on the hearts of those who appreciate 
them, but which human genius must fail to reproduce, 
either by language or pictorial art. How great and 
wonderful are Thy ivories, 0 God ! 

The next clay my ministry called me to Braunfels, 
and as I should stop for a little at the camp of San 
Antonio, I warned my companion, who wished to 
accompany me, that we should set out before sunrise. 
Accordingly, next morning, scarcely had the first rays 
of light permitted us to distinguish objects around us, 
when we saddled our horses, and set off at a gallop. 
In those countries where there is no twilight, rosy- 
fingered Aurora is unknown. The sun rises so rapidly 
to the horizon, that the dawn has not time to light 
nature up by degrees from the obscurity of the night. 

The morning was delightfully mild ; the dew-clrops 



CAMP OF SAN ANTONIO. 



87 



hung like pearls from the branches of the trees ; the 
cardinal and mocking birds chattered their best ; the 
golden humming-bird hummed and fluttered from flower 
to flower without ceasing ; and I drank in happiness 
without reserve. It was a scene to inspire thoughts 
of happiness and gratitude to God. 

After half-an-hour's fast riding, I arrived at the 
source of the San Antonio. The camp, constructed 
amphitheatrically, in an open space, presented a most 
pleasing appearance. The white tents were erected 
in two parallel lines, leaving in the middle an open 
space for military exercises. At the extremity of the 
camp were the quarters of the commandant, composed 
of two large and spacious tents ; outside the lines were 
the provision stores, and the prison, constructed of 
planks of timber. The commandant liberated all the 
prisoners, as a mark of respect to us, and with the view 
of affording them every facility of profiting by our 
ministry. Seated on a chest of biscuits, I heard the 
soldiers' confessions for six hours : assisting the most 
feeble, as well as I was able, encouraging some, in- 
structing others, giving counsel to all, and uttering 
nothing but words of peace and consolation. Many a 
tear of gratitude and love have I seen trickling down 
faces bronzed by the sun, and wrinkled by fatigues. 
The great majority of the Irish soldiers, constrained by 
dire necessity to embrace this career of toil and hard- 
ship, had been for many years without an opportunity 
of making their peace with God in the tribunal of 
confession. My companion aided me zealously in this 
work of charity. 

I afterwards went to visit the source of the San 
Antonio, which springs from the midst of rocks a few 

Q 4 



88 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



paces from the camp. These rocks are over-hung by 
oaks of immense size. The banks of the river are 
covered with an ever-green moss 5 and tall ferns. The 
water is so limpid, that the bottom of the river is 
distinctly visible, notwithstanding a depth of from ten 
to fifteen feet, and the continual bubbling up of small 
globules of air. When I returned to the camp, the 
soldiers were drawn up in two lines to receive my bene- 
diction. I told them that being obliged to go to 
Braunfels, it was quite impossible for me to make a 
longer stav amono; them, but that the following morning, 
a priest would come to offer up for them the adorable 
sacrifice of the Mass, and to deliver to them some 
instruction. Besides this, I promised to go to their 
new station, and to make a long stay there for the 
purpose of instructing those who had not as yet cele- 
brated their first communion. An altar was erected 
with drums and the doors of the prison, in the middle 
of the camp. Next morning an Irish priest arrived, as 
I had promised ; and the commandant and soldiers ap- 
proached the holy table with feelings of happiness and 
tender piety. 

My companion and I, having as yet thirty miles to 
travel before we could reach Braunfels, we did not wish 
to delay for breakfast. Having spoken a few words of 
exhortation to the soldiers, we started at a gallop. 
Having arrived at an intermitting river called the 
Tibolo, I fancied I saw some white figures through the 
trees, which immediately disappeared in the depths of 
the wood. My companion, too, perceived the same 
phantoms, and asked me what they were. 

" I suspect they are Indians ! " I replied, somewhat 
alarmed. 



RENCOUNTER WITH INDIANS. 



89 



" What a treat to me, who have never seen an Indian ! 
I should be most happy to see them." 

" For my part, I don't at all desire it. You are not 
aware that last October, two Germans were murdered 
on the very spot on which we now are, on their journey 
from Braunfels to San Antonio." 

" Bah ! you only say that to terrify me ? What busi- 
ness could Indians have here ? " 

" To hunt. Game abounds in the neighbourhood of 
these watercourses. So let us not be imprudent : when 
danger presents itself, whether real or imaginary, we 
should try to avoid it. Follow me, and do as I do." 

I proceeded slowly, taking care not to stir the 
branches of the trees as I went along. Having reached 
the river, which was dried up, I discovered a deep 
hollow, large enough to conceal our horses. In an 
instant we were there — our horses unsaddled and crop- 
ping the herbage — and we ourselves reposing at full 
length on the green sward. 

" By this forced halt," said I to my companion, " we 
shall have time to read our Breviary and take a little 
rest. It will also allow the Indians to keep ahead of 
us, if Indians they be." 

" All very good. But meantime we shall die of 
hunger and thirst." 

" My good friend, a twenty-four hours' fast will not 
kill us. This I know by experience. As to the scalp — 
why it is quite another thing ; a scalp is really an indi- 
gestible affair." 

Just as we were about to begin the Divine office, 
I saw opposite to me, and hung from a tree, the 
bloody skeleton of a deer. No doubt about it, the 
Indians had camped on this very spot. Near a tree 



90 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



was a heap of white ashes, with the fire still smoulder- 
ing in them. 

I have remarked that in those countries where deer 
abound, the Americans, when they kill an animal, only 
remove the legs and shoulders ; the Mexicans take the 
whole carcass, except the head ; the Europeans take 
the entire carcass, leaving nothing ; while the Indians 
eat the flesh, carry off the skin, and leave what then 
remains to the wolves and vultures. Thus my fears 
were well grounded. It was, nevertheless, comfortable 
to reflect that all Indians do not scalp ; besides we were 
very hungry, and had a long journey before us. 

After a halt of more than an hour and a half, Ave 
resumed our journey at an easy pace, to spare the 
horses. I was very uneasy, and from time to time 
looked back with very unenviable feelings at the sun, 
which was rapidly approaching the horizon. My com- 
panion suffered terribly from thirst. He never ceased 
inquiring whether we should soon come to a stream of 
water. To divert our minds from our sufferings and 
gloomy forebodings, I made an effort to sing, but the 
words died away on my lips ; at length we reached the 
long wished-for rivulet ; we heard it bubbling at a few 
paces from the path ; but night had already thrown a 
thick mantle over surrounding objects. My companion 
was about to alight from his horse, but I restrained him. 
I had discerned a group of men, stretched at the foot of 
a neighbouring tree, some naked, and others partially 
covered with white calico. Near them lay bows and 
rifles, and at a few yards' distance, their horses were 
cropping the grass of the clearing. 

" Here are the Indians," said I to my companion ; 
" don't alight." 



BRAUNFELS. 



91 



" I must alight," he replied, " I am dying of thirst," 
" Well then go to them," said I, " and ask in Spanish 
for some water. In the event of their making a move 
towards their guns, I say take to flight at once ; it is 
night, and they are on foot, we do not therefore run 
much risk." 

An Indian was coming from the rivulet with water in 
a calabash. My companion went straight to him, and 
asked him to allow him to drink. The Indian handed 
him the calabash, and my companion enjoyed a most 
delicious draught. One of the Indians inquired of me 
where we intended camping. I answered at Braunfels. 
After a delay of a few minutes, we started off at a 
gallop, delighted to have escaped so well. These Indians 
were probably either Lipans or Delawares. . 

It was eleven o'clock at night when we reached 
Braunfels, and the fires of the town were extinguished. 
I knocked, at the cabin of an Alsacian, where I was to 
remain for the night, and a little boy, with a very 
scanty covering indeed, opened it. His parents were 
absent, but they were to return next day. We entered, 
having previously installed our horses in the outer yard, 
with a plentiful supply of maize before them. I asked 
for something to eat. There was not a morsel of food 
of any kind in the house. My throat was all on fire, 
and my lips chapped and bleeding as though it were the 
midst of winter. There was no help for it, so having 
swallowed some mouthfuls of water, and wrapped myself 
in my blanket, I stretched myself on the ground, and 
slept most profoundly. My companion did the same. 
He left me next day to go to his mission, and I re- 
mained two days at Braunfels, very busy indeed. 

Braunfels is the most important German colony in 



92 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Texas. Its prosperity increases every day, and its 
population is above six hundred. A great portion of 
the community is Catholic. At some distance from the 
town there are other German settlements, but of very 
minor importance. Although Braunfels is beautifully 
situated for a colony, still the surrounding country is 
chiefly remarkable for its agricultural advantages. 

Natural curiosities abound in this part of Texas. A 
rich German, Herr Claupenbach, possesses magnificent 
collections. Although a Protestant, he received me with 
great affability; and after showing me his museum, he 
conducted me to the source of the Comal, a small river 
which runs through the town, and sets in motion the 
machinery of its grinding and sawing mills. These 
springs are well worth a visit. They burst from the 
hill, then dash among rocks into a wood, and furnish a 
volume of water not less than four feet in depth and 
twenty-five in breadth, very limpid, and of a most 
delicious favour. In the dry bed of a torrent, at the 
bottom of a deep gorge formed of limestone rocks, 
which afford shelter to wild beasts, I saw very curious 
crystallisations, and found a large white flint of such 
purity and brilliance, that I mistook it for rock- 
crystal. I also found a portion of loadstone as large 
as a hen's egg. Violet crystallisations which resemble 
amethysts, are found on the elevated plateau which 
protects Braunfels from the north winds; also beau- 
tiful and rare flowers, which brave the most intense 
heat. Here, too, is seen a small conical hill, which has 
all the characters of a volcanic eruption, and which 
bears a very close resemblance to the hill near the camp 
of the Leona. 

Despite all misadventures these excursions have their 



PRAIRIES ON FIRE. 



93 



interest. I have frequently seen a prairie on fire, a 
sight which novelists represent as grand and terrible. 
For my own part, I was disappointed in the reality. 
Every year the farmers set fire to the dry grass to 
destroy insects, and prepare the land for a new crop. 
Fire and smoke travel so quickly as completely to remove 
from the scene everything of an imposing character. 
At night that long and brilliant line of fire which rushes 
on so rapidly, is curious to behold, but it never rises 
more than a few feet from the earth. Eeptiles easily 
escape by hiding themselves in holes. Animals have 
been described as terrified by these conflagrations, and 
as escaping in the wildest manner, and howling with 
dismay. This is at least an exaggeration. I have seen 
deer browsing tranquilly within a few yards of the fire, 
and then bounding over it when it approached them too 
closely. Herds of oxen and horses retire before it with 
great composure, and like the deer, leap over it, when 
necessary. The burned plains wear a melancholy, 
dreary aspect for a fortnight or so, but as soon as a 
little rain falls, the grass shoots up through the white 
and black cinders, and again clothes the earth as in its 
beauteous mantle of spring. 



94 



TEXAS AND MEXICO, 



CHAP. IV, 

THE CHOLERA. — SCENES MORE FRIGHTFUL TO BEHOLD THAN EASY 

TO DESCRIBE.— ~ A STRONG REMEDY. - — RODRIGUEZ AND HIS SONS. 

LYNCH LAW. — QUARREL ABOUT A HEN. — - A FALL HOW THE 

LONGEST ROADS ARE SOMETIMES THE BEST AND THE SHORTEST.— 

MELANCHOLY, A FISHING PARTY, AND AN AQUATIC EXCURSION. 

THE MANIAC OF THE MEDINA. — . A PHANTOM. 

This nomade life was ease and tranquillity itself, when 
compared with the terrible trials to which the cholera 
subjected us. At San Antonio as at Castro ville, the 
epidemic made dreadful ravages. My day was spent in 
running from one bed to another, and from the church 
to the grave-yard. I saw nothing but agony, and death, 
and burials; I had hardly time to take my ordinary 
meals. Calls were incessant, so that I was constantly 
employed in dispensing remedies, as well as in consoling 
and praying for the dying. Charles M— — , the young 
Frenchman of whom I before spoke, fortunately took 
upon himself the task of supporting us by his gun, and 
of otherwise providing for our material necessities. I 
should not have been able to compass everything, for I 
was alone, M. Dubuis not having as yet returned from 
his mission in the north and east, where the epidemic 
was also doing its work of destruction. I performed the 
duties of nurse-tender ; executed the prescriptions of 
the doctor, administered potions and frictions; in short, 
I was occupied with body and soul at the same time. 



THE CHOLERA, 



95 



I was not always successful in curing the body ; but it 
frequently happened that a moribund rising in revolt 
against his sufferings, and struggling with violence in 
his tortures, has been pacified by my words, listened 
to me, and even in the midst of convulsions, which 
shook and distorted his countenance, seized my hand 
in sign of gratitude and resignation. Then I conveyed 
him to the grave-yard, as horrifying a spectacle to 
behold as the cholera itself, for wolves and foxes, at- 
tracted thither by the odour of the dead bodies, ran- 
sacked and violated the tombs. 

One day I said to Charles that I should go next 
morning to pay a short visit to the cholera-patients of 
San Antonio. He therefore resolved to profit by my ab- 
sence to hunt panthers ; but next morning I was awaked 
at an early hour by a severe pain in my throat ; my 
whole neck was swollen ; and two tiny black spots led 
me to suppose that I had been stung by a venemous 
insect. I was confirmed in this opinion by the presence 
of a large tarantula which I discovered on the ground. 
Notwithstanding that, I lost no time in washing the 
bites with liquid ammoniac, still, when I mounted my 
horse, half my body was paralysed. Seeing this, Charles 
would not hear of my proceeding alone on my journey, 
and so he accompanied me. Now the horse I rode on 
the occasion had cost me the sum of fifteen francs, and 
even at that price I had been mercilessly cheated. We 
took nine hours to go to San Antonio ; and to perforin 
the journey even within this time, I was constrained to 
ride a part of the way with my face to the animal's 
tail, and to belabour him incessantly with a huge 
staff. Charles, being similarly armed, aided me in this 
laborious task. When I arrived at San Antonio my 



96 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



disorder had so increased that I was unable to move a 
limb. Having no money to fee a surgeon, I begged of 
my companion to make some incisions in my neck with 
his penknife. The operation gave me great relief. I 
therefore repeated it, and continued cauterising the 
wounds with ammoniac until I was completely cured. 

San Antonio, which a few days before was so gay, so 
crowded with people, and so fall of life, was now silent 
as the grave. The streets were deserted, and the church 
bells no longer tolled the ordinary ; had they done so, 
the tolling would have been continuous night and day. 
The parish priest could find no time even to say mass. 
One third of the population had fled, and were camped 
in the woods, along rivers and watercourses. Another 
portion shut themselves up in their cabins, whence arose 
cries, and wailings, and supplications to God for mercy ; 
while a third part were in the throes and agonies of 
death. We met no one in the streets, save those who 
were carrying off the dead. Coffins were scarce, and 
the dead were in many instances strapped to dried ox- 
hides, and thus dragged along, all livid and purple, to 
their graves. It happened not unfrequently that one of 
those who dragged them along, was suddenly struck 
down by the scourge, and after writhing an instant or 
two, expired by the side of the corpse. In a short 
time the malady pursued the fugitives to the banks of the 
rivers, or into the depths of the woods, and these silent 
retreats were thus made witnesses of heart-rending 
scenes, and horrifying spectacles of men dying alone and 
unaided in the midst of the wilderness. For six weeks 
did the epidemic rage with undiminished intensity. 
The preservation of the parish priest's life during all that 
time was something wonderful, if not truly miraculous. 



A RENCONTRE. 



97 



By what means did he succeed in maintaining life for 
six weeks without sleep, with an insufficiency of food, 
and in the midst of continual fatigue ? The won- 
dering population exclaimed : " It is God alone that 
sustains him." And they spoke truth. It was his 
reward and recompense ; for, of all the ministers of 
the various sects then in San Antonio, the good priest 
was the only one who braved danger to succour his 
people. 

The same evening I returned to Castroville upon my 
ten-shilling horse. 0 memorable night ! The sun was 
already above the horizon when I arrived. Abbe Du- 
buis returned next day, having travelled that evening 
from San Antonio to Castroville alone and on foot, for 
he had not been able to procure a horse. While pro- 
ceeding on his journey at a slow pace, on account of 
the darkness, and drenched to the skin by the incessant 
rain, two horsemen accosted him as to whether they 
were in reality on the right road to Castroville, and 
whether they were likely to arrive that night. 

" Certainly," said the Abbe, " for you are on horse- 
back. I myself expect, although on foot, to arrive there 
by two o'clock in the morning." 

One of the two travellers invited the Abbe to 
mount behind him. He accepted the invitation, and 
in return offered them the hospitality of our little 
house. This was doing them a real service, as there 
was no inn at Castroville^ and it being late at night, 
no one would open his door to them. These tra- 
vellers were Germans of the sect of Ronge, and had 
come to purchase oxen to convey their luggage to 
California. 

It was two o'clock in the morning when Charles and 

H 



98 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



I were awaked by the Abbe and his two companions.. 
We at once made a good fire to dry them. Xext 
morning one of the Germans went out, the other re- 
mained bent over the fire, taciturn, and seeming ill 
at ease. His eyes were haggard and cavernous, and 
his complexion livid. After breakfast he went out with 
Charles, but returned in a short time supported by the 
latter and the mason whom I had heard sing, from 
my skylight, on the occasion of my first arrival in 
San Antonio. His cheeks were sunken, his eves glassy, 
his gaze fixed and vacant : he had cholera. I laid him 
on my bed, and ran for the doctor. 

"Do you feel much pain?" asked the doctor on his 
arrival. 

" Xo ! " replied the patient, while a cold sweat covered 
his whole body. 

" He is a dead man/' said the doctor, in a whisper 
to me. "I shall order him a potion, you will perforin 
the friction,, but all will be useless." 

We apprised his friend, who sternly refused to see 
him. The Abbe, Charles, and myself succeeded each 
other in tending him and watching by his bedside, each 
in turn for three hours. In the evening he often in- 
quired the hour, and spoke to himself a few incoherent, 
unintelligible words ; and at midnight he expired, 
The night was dark, the rain fell in torrents, the body 
emitted a fetid, intolerable odour ; in vain we burned 
paper, powder, and sugar ; all would not do ; we could 
stand it no longer, and therefore conveyed the remains 
to the schoolroom, placed them in a large box in readi- 
ness for the morrow ; and then, notwithstanding the 
infected air, we fell asleep, utterly exhausted with fatigue 
and want of repose. In the morning the body was re- 



RODRIGUEZ AND HIS SONS. 



99 



moved ; but all three of us felt indisposed ; pains in the 
head and stomach, nausea, and cramps were unmistakable 
symptoms of the nature of our disease. The doctor lived 
too far away to give us timely assistance, so we resolved 
on prescribing for ourselves. A glass goblet was ac- 
cordingly filled with camphorated alcohol, laudanum, un- 
grouncl pepper, and eau-de-cologne ; this mixture was 
strained through a thin linen cloth, and then divided into 
three equal parts, of which each drank off one. It is not 
my intention to recommend this remedy to any person. 
As to myself I fancied that I had swallowed burning coals ; 
and that my whole body was on fire. A copious perspi- 
ration followed ; then sleep, which rendered us motion- 
less for twenty-four hours. On waking, we felt greatly 
relieved and strengthened ; the new medicine had effected 
our cure, and the next day each resumed his ordinary 
occupation. 

In thanksgiving for our recovery, I offered up the 
adorable sacrifice of the mass, and during the service a 
choir of Mexicans chanted a slow, monotonous hymn, 
but withal harmonious and full of pathos. When I 
returned home, the singers, four in number, came to 
pay me a visit. They were one Rodriguez and his three 
sons who had come to Castroville in search of cattle 
wdiich had strayed away from their owners. Rodriguez 
is an old man of primitive faith and piety ; and his high 
sense of justice and honour is proverbial ; though his 
worldly means are small. His twelve stalwart sons 
seemed all to be above twenty-five years of age. 
When Rodriguez assists at mass he never fails to chant 
one of those hymns in a voice full of tenderness and 
feeling. At San Antonio, these chants became very 
popular, and the voice of the Christian bard was 

H 2 



100 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



generally accompanied in church by the whole con- 
gregation. 

Koclriguez had in the neighbourhood of San Antonio, 
a farm, which he cultivated with his twelve sons, who 
were the best breakers-in of mustangs in those countries. 
If a horse, or an ox, or any other animal, went astray, 
immediate application was made to Rodriguez and his 
sons, and the missing beast was soon forthcoming. They 
never claimed any remuneration for the service ren- 
dered, but left it quite optional with you whether you 
paid them or not : they looked to God for a higher 
and better recompense. Like the anchorites of the 
Thebaide, every year the sons of Rodriguez spent, 
in rotation, some days in the woods in prayer, fasting, 
and singing, with the birds, canticles of praise and 
thanksgiving to the God of nature. During these days 
of retirement they lived on ebony leaves, Barbary figs, 
and wild roots. As these twelve men had received con- 
firmation from the hands of our good bishop on the 
day of my ordination, I thought a short notice of them 
deserved a place in my journal. 

At length, thanks to God, the cholera gave us a 
little breathing time, and though a dreadful scourge, 
it rendered us a most unexpected service in freeing 
us from the Indians, who had been decimated by it 
as mercilessly as we ourselves had been, and who, 
perhaps, fancying that the plague had been spread 
among them by the whites, made on that account fewer 
visits to our country. Up to that time their pre- 
sence was a perpetual source of alarm, as they made 
numerous victims. 

Our cemetery, as I have already mentioned, had no 
protection against the wild beasts, which accordingly paid 



LYNCH LAW. 



101 



it frequent visits, so that it presented a most revolting 
spectacle, It was situated on a gentle eminence about 
an English mile from Castroville. On the route, as 
you turned a little to the left, there was a large oak, 
near which there is a grave, in connexion with which 
there is a story as revolting as the cemetery itself. As 
it serves to illustrate the manners of the New World, I 
shall relate it. 

One evening four men set out on foot from Castro- 
ville to San Antonio ; three of them were colonists, and 
the fourth, M. Dubuis. The Abbe left his companions 
in the plains, where they purposed passing the night, 
while he pursued his journey to San Antonio. Next 
morning, a dispute arose amongst them, and one of 
the colonists was murdered by the other two. The 
most guilty was a Swiss Calvinist. Encouraged by 
the absence of anything like duly organised judicial 
tribunals, he entered Castroville unapprehensive of 
consequences ; but the rumour of the crime which 
he had perpetrated, had preceded him. As soon 
as he arrived, the sheriff, assisted by some drunken 
fellows, seized, bound, and condemned him to death 
in the very public-house where they had been drinking. 
Still, whether it was owing to a feeling of shame, or 
with a view of lightening their responsibility as judges 
and executioners, by causing the whole population 
to share in the act, they sent round a paper with 
a view of obtaining influential names as a sanction 
of the sentence. In less than half-an-hour the docu- 
ment was covered with signatures. The whole popu- 
lation then assembled, and the murderer was con- 
veyed to the foot of a tree near the cemetery. Along 
the way, they asked him if he wished to see his wife 

H 3 



102 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



and children ; but lie answered " No," and demanded 
some whiskey. Arrived at the fatal spot, the butcher, 
who was the executioner on the occasion, put the rope 
round his neck, and was preparing to hang him, when 
the ex-schoolmaster, the sacristan of whom I have 
already spoken, arrested his arm, and exhorted the 
people to kneel down and pray God for the criminal's 
soul; and setting the example himself, the old man 
recited in a loud voice five paters and five aves, to 
which the crowd responded in accents of deep emotion. 
These prayers being recited, the schoolmaster resumed : 
." Now let us offer up a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, 
that she may intercede with God for the repose of the 
soul of this wretched man." To which the latter 
replied in a tone of contempt, — 

"I'd like to know how the Virgin can serve me at 
this moment." 

u Ah!" says the butcher, "you don't know, don't 
you? Well, we'll try to do something for you." 
And casting the rope over a branch of the tree, at the 
same instant, aided by some men of his own calling, he 
launched the wretched man into eternity. The crowd 
retired in silence, somewhat affected by this act of 
summary justice. I never passed by this tree without 
experiencing a shudder of horror at the recollection 
of the drama of which it had been the witness. 

One night, while I slept profoundly after the fatigues 
of the day, I was roused by loud and repeated knocks 
at the door. I rose in haste, and having opened the door, 
was accosted by a youth of eighteen, and his sister, 
who entreated me to come and administer the last sacra- 
ment to one of their brothers, who had been murdered 
by the eldest son of the family. I said to them : 



QUARREL ABOUT A HEN. 



103 



" But if he is dead, he can have no need of my 
ministry." 

"lS T o. He is still alive." 
"Where do you live?" 

" At a rancho (farm), near the San Hyeronimo." 

Now the prospect of journeying eighteen miles, 
after one o'clock in the morning, through a country 
infested with Indians, rattlesnakes, and wild beasts, 
was in no wise agreeable ; nevertheless, refusal was 
out of the question • go I must. I took the holy 
oils for extreme unction, elixir for the wounds, and a 
pair of pistols which Charles gave me, saying, " You 
will need them, believe me." I did believe him, and 
set out. 

Two horses were in readiness: one of them had no 
bridle, the other was without a saddle. I selected the 
horse without the bridle, and set off at a gallop. I 
ascertained, as we proceeded, that the two brothers 
had quarrelled about a hen, to which each laid claim, 
and that the eldest, a maniac, in a paroxysm rushed 
on his brother, and felled him to the earth with two 
blows of a hatchet. The brother who had been 
struck, had lost his right hand the year before, while 
shooting; and, two years previously, the maniac had 
stabbed himself with a knife in the abdomen. We ar- 
rived at the rancho without accident ; and guided by 
traces of blood, we entered the cabin where the unfor- 
tunate young man lay. He was stretched on a bed, 
bathed in his blood, and breathing heavily, with his 
forehead bound round with a bloody handkerchief. 
I asked him if he knew me. He could not speak, 
but made a sign of recognition. Having, therefore, 
motioned the others to retire, I heard his confes- 

H 4 



104 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



sion in the manner usual under such circumstances, 
and administered to him the sacrament of extreme 
unction. 

Two candles, shedding a flickering light through the 
cabin, a dying man stretched on a pallet, a priest 
praying for him and consoling him, form a very simple 
picture, but one which has been frequently repeated 
during my life. And still, under the cabin's roof, in 
the wilderness, far from the bustle of cities, I have ever 
considered this picture as a very sublime one ; it never 
failed to make the deepest impression upon me. The 
grief of families and friends is frequently selfish, and 
always inopportune as regards the man on the brink of 
the grave. Religion, his best friend, his consolation and 
firmest support, watches over him, and encourages him 
on his death-bed, while nature is able to do little more 
than suffer and weep. It was thus I regarded things 
in this terrible moment, while very often a pressure of 
the hand, a look of farewell and gratitude, into which 
the dying man threw his entire soul, proved to me the 
justness of my convictions. 

I had not terminated the sacred unction, when the 
fratricide stalked into the room to deal his brother a 
determined finishing blow. In an instant I snatched up 
a pistol, and levelling it at his breast, ordered him to 
retire, which he did with a very bad grace. After the 
ceremony, I examined the wound in the head, which 
was very large, but not at all difficult to cicatrize, and 
dressed it as well as I could. One of the ears had been 
cut off. I then raised the handkerchief which covered 
the wound on his breast, but, horror-struck, I let it fall 
again ; the unfortunate man had received near the 
heart a blow of a hatchet, which, after smashing two ribs, 



A FALL. 



cut one of the lungs in two. The wound was five inches 
in length, and at least four in depth. I returned with- 
out delay to Castroville, to apprise the doctor ; but he 
was absent, and could not attend the wounded man for 
at least four days. Six months afterwards, I returned 
to the same rancho, and met a man walking in the farm- 
yard, pale and tottering in his gait ; I asked his name, 
and found it was the same I had anointed, and believed 
to have been dead for the last six months. To be sure 
he was a German, and had the life of a cat. 

But the apostolic journeyings of a missionary do not 
always end without accident. Before my arrival at 
Castroville, Abbe Dubuis was obliged to go to Dhanis, 
to visit the sick, and baptize the children. The Indians 
were on his route, and he durst not face the danger 
on foot ; hence he mounted a mustang mule, which 
determined to unseat him in the middle of the plain. 
For a full hour and a half he struggled with all 
his might to keep his seat in the midst of brush- 
wood and stumps of trees, against which he broke his 
spurs and stirrups ; but the mule became every instant 
more unmanageable, until, at last, the bridle snapped ; 
an instant now was sufficient to hurl him to the 
ground. For three days he was obliged to keep his bed, 
or rather the blanket which supplied its place. A good 
old woman brought him a pillow of maize-leaves, to 
soothe his aching head, while the doctor took some ounces 
of blood from his arm. Eight days afterwards he was 
still suffering from the effects of the fall. 

One morning, just having returned from a night 
visit after preparing a person for death, a dragoon 
rode up to my door to request me to go to the camp 
on the Medina to perform the funeral service of one 



106 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



of his comrades who had been killed by accident. The 
camp was situated about fourteen miles from Castro- 
ville, and at a greater distance than the San Hyeronimo. 
I again mounted my horse to traverse a part of the 
same route which I had passed over only a few hours 
before. 

The way is very beautiful, but, as I have already said, 
is very dangerous on account of the serpents, panthers, 
and Indians, who come to hunt in the neighbourhood. 
After having crossed the San Hyeronimo and the San 
Miguel, which are two small rivulets containing scarcely 
any water, I entered into a narrow gorge which runs 
between two beautiful wooded hills of graceful and pic- 
turesque aspect. This gorge widens by degrees, the 
hills retire from each other, and then sweep round a 
small prairie planted with old stunted mesquites. 
Nature in this district seems to have been expressly 
formed for the Ked Skins ; its wild eccentricities of 
form and colour seize the heart, and strike the imagi- 
nation. I expected every instant to see the savage 
figure of an Indian spring from the matted grass or 
thick underwood, ready to let fly at me his murderous 
arrows. 

We diverged from the route at a place where the 
ground suddenly sinks, on the verge of the Medina, along 
whose banks extended the camp, entirely concealed by 
enormous trees. After the funeral ceremony, I visited, 
in company with the commandant, and under a strong 
escort, the curiosities of the neighbourhood. The princi- 
pal of these were a tree and a grotto. The tree was a 
giant pine, which, at three yards from the ground, 
measured twenty-seven English feet in circumference. 
The grotto appeared to me to be an ancient confederation 



THE SHORTEST WAY NOT ALWAYS BEST. 107 



of numerous republics of bees; for the immense quantity 
of honey and wax, which it still contained, was such that 
a lance driven almost all its length into it, did not touch 
the bottom. This colossal hive appeared to have been 
abandoned for a long while. 

On my way back to Castroville I resolved to cut right 
across the mountains to avoid that long monotonous 
plain which I had thrice traversed in less than twelve 
hours. I thought too by this means to shorten the length 
of my journey. But I soon discovered that the straightest 
road is not always the shortest. I crossed at a gallop the 
hill which seemed to me of easiest ascent, but all at 
once I found myself, as it were, on the first step of a 
gigantic terrace formed of little hills of some hundreds 
of feet in height. As I rode a mustang horse which 
cleared all obstacles like a chamois, I soon reached 
the highest point, on an immense plateau overlooking 
that chain of mountains which sink gradually as they 
approach the Gulf of Mexico, but which towards the 
north-west increase gradually in height until they 
effect a junction with the Rocky Mountains. Distant 
a few miles from this is a small lake difficult of access, 
to which troops of mustangs, oxen, and deer come to 
drink ; and it is also the favourite resort of the domestic 
animals, which have wandered away from their owners, 
and which, having reached this lake, never afterwards 
leave its vicinity, but become wild. 

This plateau was a magnificent observatory ; and the 
prospect it commanded, seemed to extend to infinity. 
It was covered with flowers, some of which were sur- 
passingly beautiful from the brilliance of their colours. 
The trees were few and stunted ; for the north wind, 
which continually sweeps these summits, prevents luxu- 



108 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



riant vegetation ; and such trees as had resisted this 
cutting wind were half broken, and bore traces of the 
fury of the tempest. 

All these hills and mountains which lay between me 
and Castro ville were cut up with deep ravines hollowed 
out by the tropical rains, and were, for the most part, 
impassable, and so dangerous that I was constrained to 
ride round them. Thus wasting much time, and worried 
to death by these obstacles, I became more and more 
impatient and heedless of danger ; so much so that on 
many occasions I was nearly rolling down with my 
horse into the yawming abysses beneath. My careless- 
ness of danger had almost cost me my life. Having to 
descend a ravine about a hundred feet in depth, and 
fearing lest my horse should fall upon me were I to lead 
him by the bridle, I remained in the saddle, and thus 
reached the bottom of the precipice uninjured ; but as to 
escalading the other side, which rose like a wall before 
me, my horse proved himself unequal to the task after 
many bootless attempts. Unwilling to remain for ever 
in the ravine, I made a last effort, let go the bridle, 
and with voice, whip, and spur urged on the horse. The 
animal became furious, and started off holding himself 
almost quite upright against the perpendicular embank- 
ment ; and at the same instant I felt a most intense pain 
in the region of the epigastrium : it was the pommel of 
the saddle which had driven me a frightful contusion. I 
thought I should have died, for the blood was flowing 
from my mouth ; yet to prevent myself from falling I 
was obliged to cling to the mane of my gallant steed, 
which at last surmounted the precipice. 

My pains were intense, and I was still a long way 
from Castroville ; yet somehow I arrived at last in a 



HIGH FLAVOURED PROVISIONS. 



109 



dying state, and thoroughly penetrated with the con- 
viction that the longest roads are often the best. 

We were dining one day on our last piece of smoked 
pork, which the summer heat had tainted, so that it had 
become quite maggoty, and, notwithstanding the cook- 
ino\ its colour no less than its flavour was most dis- 
gusting. I felt an utter loathing against this decomposed 
meat. Abbe Dubuis, with the view of encouraging me, 
told me it tasted like ripe pear, while Charles, on the other 
hand, produced an empty match-box, which he placed near 
his plate with the utmost gravity. I asked him what the 
box was for. " To fill it," he replied, " with these little 
creatures, which I shall preserve as bait for fishing.' 7 I 
strove to imitate the stoical indifference of my com- 
panions, and enjoy their jokes ; and, cutting my portion 
into small bits, I covered them, as was my wont, with 
pepper ; then dipping each morsel in vinegar, I swal- 
lowed it as best I might, making all kinds of grimaces 
the while, to the great amusement of my companions. 

There were days when I felt sad — morally prostrate, 
if not quite disheartened, and this too although I was 
wont to apply for strength at the foot of the crucifix of 
our little chapel. Man's natural strength is but limited, 
and his trials seem to increase at every step through 
life. When in this distressed state of mind, I used to 
stretch myself in my hammock, with my face heaven- 
ward, contemplating the void ; and thus I would indulge 
in reveries at once sad and aimless, while unbidden 
tears would start to my eyes, and sighs oppress my 
heart, and my gaze would naturally turn towards that 
point where the sun rises, for there it was I had left 
father-land and all those whom I loved. 

At twenty-four the heart is still full of affection, even 



110 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



though it be the heart of a missionary. Indeed, it may 
be said that the priest in these distant missions has two 
individualities, — the one purely spiritual and Christian, 
causing him to raise his heart and eyes towards Heaven 
to obtain strength, courage, and assistance wherewith 
to discharge his laborious and toilsome duties ; the 
other all human and weak, rendering his sensibility 
to the voice of nature more marked, and making 
his heart bound with joy at the sweet names of 
country, family, and friends. Although these two in- 
dividualities are nothing but the ordinary struggle 
between the man and the Christian, still they fail not 
to throw one into great lassitude of body and spirit. 
Some there are who, seeing nothing to fear in this in- 
terior struggle, allow themselves to waver between their 
thoughts and their reveries, which are not always with- 
out a certain charm, and thus await in all resignation 
the end of the storm. Others on the contrary, and 
doubtless the more virtuous class, by means of prayer 
and strength of purpose, at once put an end to this 
contest, which might be a temptation after all. Oh ! 
how happy are those who pass from their mother's side 
to the benches of the schools, and thence to the cell of 
the seminary, to enter the priesthood without having 
made any halt on the ways of life, and without having 
ever seen their little bark carried off by the tempest, 
and buffeted by the fierce waves of the world. 

I was in one of those days of combat, of vague sadness 
and reverie ; Charles perceived it, and in order to cheer 
me he showed his match-box full of maggots for bait, 
and proposed that we should go on a fishing excursion. 
Although I have no more taste for this amusement than 
I have for hunting, still I felt very grateful to him for 



FISHING AND BOATING EXCURSIONS. 



in 



his kind intention, and accepted the offer. We started 
for the Medina, each provided with a bad line. After 
an hour and a half of complete immobility, Charles had 
caught an old shoe and a black serpent ; but as for myself 
I had taken a kind of tortoise peculiar to those countries, 
and a horrid frog with a long tail, which jumped about 
on the sand bank of the river. Our amusement waxing 
somewhat monotonous, we proposed a boating excursion 
on the river. Near where we stood was an old leaky 
boat, with but one oar, belonging to an acquaintance 
of ours. Charles took the solitary oar to direct the 
boat, while my hat served to bail out the water which 
came rushing through the chinks and crevices. Thus 
equipped we started. In this place the Medina flowed 
in a narrow channel under an enormous canopy of trees. 
We followed slowly the current of the river, singing as 
we glided — 

"Vogue, vogue, oh! ma balaucelle," &c. 

The boating was really preferable to the fishing 
excursion. The Medina gradually widened until at 
length it formed a vast oval basin very deep, which the 
enormous nut-trees overshadowed with difficulty. The 
azure of the sky sparkled through the foliage of the 
trees ; on the banks, the long slender stems of the high 
grass, and the graceful plumes of the fern, inclined gently 
towards the water as if to admire their frail beauty in 
nature's mirror ; a light breeze played through the 
trees like the distant echo of our song ; the bird of 
paradise, the mocking-bird, the cardinal, and the blue 
bird seemed by their notes and joyous sports to return 
thanks to the Creator for having given them existence ; 
grey and red squirrels added to the animation of the 



112 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



scene by their restless garabollings ; and happiness seemed 
to be distributed through the wilderness with the per- 
fume of flowers, and the sweet odour of the atmosphere. 

I was happy, my brow serene, and my heart glad- 
some. With the grand spectacle of nature — the mighty 
phenomena of creation before his eyes — how insignificant 
is man ! All this grandeur and majesty awe and dazzle 
him, but his faculties seem too limited to contain the 
variety of emotions which these sublime tableaux 
conjure up. Not so with the chefs-d'oeuvre of the pictu- 
resque, which the hand of God has scattered in pro- 
fusion over the most isolated portion of the globe. 
Man is more at ease, and enjoys with greater relish the 
beauties of creation, amid silence and solitude in a 
lovely spot of earth, which he looks upon as his own. 
These graceful scenes of a rich and poetic nature pro- 
duce deep impressions on the heart, and it is impossible 
to separate one's-self from them without regret and sad- 
ness. 

We were gliding very slowly, and our songs were 
hushed amid these revellings of the imagination ; but 
suddenly the boat received a violent shock, by which I 
lost my balance, and I was almost pitched into the 
water. My eyes, which had been wandering towards the 
dome of foliage above, were quickly lowered to the 
boat to discover the cause of the shock. I was alone ! 
Charles had disappeared, but his hat floated on the 
surface. Filled with alarm, I glanced all around, and 
at last descried his head, which came to the surface of 
the water, a few feet from the boat. Charles, seeing 
my alarm, burst into a hearty laugh, inquired how I 
liked his plunge, and assured me that the water was 
not at all cold. As he could not swim, I cried out 



BOATING EXCURSION. 



113 



to him not to move lest he should fall into some hole ; 
and I feared, besides, that the current would draw him 
into deep water, in which he would be drowned most 
assuredly. Charles, absorbed, as I was myself, by this 
enchanting little picture, was standing upright as he 
rowed, and an awkward stroke destroying his equili- 
brium, he fell into the river, carrying the oar with 
him. His position was critical enough ; for with my 
hands alone I was obliged to direct the boat, and bring 
it over to where he was. Besides, during these reveries, 
to which each of us had abandoned himself, I had quite 
forgot to bale out the water, which was entering the boat 
so rapidly that it was alread}^ half full. Add to this 
that the current was bearing us on towards rapids which 
were hardly twenty yards distant. I shouted for help. 
By a special interposition of Providence, the owner of 
the boat was walking within reach of my voice, and hear- 
ing me, he ran towards us, doffed his clothes in hot 
haste, and threw himself into the river. He swam like 
a fish, and in an instant had seized the oar which was 
floating down to leeward. I caught it, and directed 
the boat towards Charles, who clung to one side, whilst 
the owner suspended himself from the other, and I rowed 
them to the bank. We were rescued — but a few 
minutes later, and we must have been lost. 

On the night which followed this misadventure, there 
happened a strange scene which deserves to be related. 
As was my habit, I was stretched in my hammock, 
inhaling with delight the perfumed evening air, while a 
sw r eet and warm breeze played through my hair, and the 
stars shone in the heaven with unusual brilliance. I 
fell asleep, reflecting that if I enjo} T ed few~ fine days in 
Texas I was fully recompensed by the nights, whose 

i 



114 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



calm, moderate lieat and serenity enchanted and re- 
freshed me in a most singular manner after the fatigues 
of the day. Towards midnight I was awaked by the 
tinklings of the little bell of the chapel, — measured 
tinklings, sweet, and silvery. I listened attentively in 
great amazement. It could not be the breeze, for it 
was so light that it would scarcely have agitated the 
leaf of the aspen. Who, then, could be thus ringing 
at an hour when all nature reposed and was asleep in 
the cabins and in the woods ? Immediately behind me, 
in the direction of Abbe Chazelle's grave, I heard, in a 
tongue unintelligible to me, a melody full of pathos and 
harmony, resembling the slow, solemn modulations of 
a religious chant. For a moment I fancied I was 
dreaming, and carried to the midnight office of some 
Carthusian cloister. The vibration of the little bell, 
and the voice, were borne languidly into space by the 
zephyr of the night, like the emanation of a sweet per- 
fume. These melodious, mysterious accents went to 
my heart ; and though convinced that I was quite awake, 
I durst not rise lest I should penetrate the mystery. 
I enjoyed, as I should delicious fruit, these harmo- 
nious, melancholy notes, which found a responsive echo 
in my heart. At the end of an hour the chanting 
ceased, the bell tinkled no longer, and silence resumed 
her sway once more. 

The next day a woman from the town came to in- 
quire why it was that I performed a night service 
at the grave of Abbe Chazelle ? I entreated her to 
explain herself. She told me how she had been 
awakened by the bell ; how she observed lights on the 
grave, and the figure of a man on his knees in the 
attitude of prayer. As to the chant, she was at too 



THE MANIAC OF THE MEDINA. 



115 



great a distance to have heard it. The following night, 
at the same hour, I was again aroused by the tinkling 
of the bell, and the chant only differed from that of the 
preceding night in this, that its modulation was sadder 
and more solemn. After having listened a long time 
to the melody, I decided on finding out who this mys- 
terious chanter was, and rising without noise, I quietly 
approached the grave, at each of the four corners of 
which a wax taper was burning. At the foot of the 
cross I clearly discerned the form of a man in a kneel- 
ing posture. It was the maniac of the Medina, as he 
was called, a colonist of about thirty years of age, whom 
the execution of the Swiss had so affected that he lost 
his reason. But as his folly was confined to harmless 
eccentricities, he was allowed to be at large in the 
town, where he walked frequently through the streets, 
chanting his lays at every hour, day and night. He 
had a very good voice, and his chants were generally 
funereal and religious. I approached him, and begged 
of him to go home to bed. The poor maniac, with a 
sweet smile on his lips, obeyed me without hesitation, 
saying, Ya, ya, young Herr Pfarrer (Yes, yes, young 
priest). Henceforward the night chants ceased, but I 
confess that I often regretted their discontinuance. 

Extraordinary scenes were by no means rare in these 
countries. There was a colonist who, I think, had com- 
mitted murder in Europe ; but though his crime re- 
mained hidden from the eyes of justice, his conscience 
continually reminded him of it. Every night he fancied 
he beheld the ghost of the murdered man standing by 
his bed. When he lighted a candle, the ghost disap- 
peared. Hoping to rid himself of this constant pursuit 
on the part of the ghost, he emigrated to Texas, but 

T 2 



116 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



in Texas, as in Europe, the ghost returned every night, 
and disappeared when a candle was lighted ; and hence 
the unfortunate man was at last obliged to have a candle 
lighted all night, as thus only could he enjoy a little 
rest. "When I passed by his cabin at night, and saw 
the light glimmering through the chinks of the reed 
wall, I could not refrain from shuddering, and pitying 
the wretched being. Doubtless remorse and a disordered 
imagination were the sole causes of his vision. 



117 



CHAP. V. 

THE INDIANS. SANTA ANNA. — A TRAGEDY. THE COMANCHES. 

THE LIPANS. A GERMAN PRIEST AXD THE RED SKINS. AD- 
VENTURES OF A MEXICAN WOMAN. MURDER OF FOUR COLONISTS 

BY THE INDIANS. CIVILISATION OF THE INDIANS SHORT REVIEW 

OF AMERICAN EDUCATION. EXTREME UNCTION ADMINISTERED 

WITH GREASE. CAMP MEETINGS. — PREACHERS IN PETTICOATS. 

In the north and west of Texas, the Indians are very 
numerous ; and the most savage, as well as the most im- 
portant tribe, is that of the Oomanches. It is also 
the tribe which is most to be feared, for it is said to 
number 40,000 warriors. But who can prove the fact ? 
The Apaches and the Navajos come sometimes on hunt- 
ing-excursions to Texas, but they remain generally in 
New Mexico, in the neighbourhood of Paso-del-Norte 
and the State of Sonora. The Lipans, the Cathos, the 
Wakos, and the Delawares, are inconsiderable in num- 
ber and by no means formidable, There are at the 
present day, on the banks of the Eio Grande, round 
the gulf and on the east of Texas, some groups of 
Manzos (good) Indians, remnants or sections of tribes. 

Although the Indians are nomades by nature and 
necessity, they have nevertheless establishments where 
they sometimes sojourn for a certain period of years. 
The warriors in this case spend their time in hunting 
as long as the game lasts, and the remaining portion 
of the tribe dwell quietly at their encampment, employ- 
ins: themselves in domestic concerns, the men doins; 
little or nothing, the women waiting on the men and 



118 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



doing all the work. During such times they prepare 
their arrows from knife -blades and iron-rings, always 
pointing them with flint ; and make spears by firmly 
binding a sword to a long pole, ornamented with carv- 
ings, feathers, and horse hair. It is also during such 
resting time, that the skins of deer, buffaloes, and wild 
beasts are tanned and made into garments ; and some- 
times they even till the ground. When a tribe captures 
prisoners, a thing of rare occurrence, the latter culti- 
vate the soil, aided by the domestic animals which have 
been stolen from the neighbouring towns. The Lipans 
encamped a long time near Castroville and the adjacent 
colonies. The thousands of bleached skeletons of all 
kinds of animals which are met with at every step in 
the plains and woods show that game abounded here, 
and that the Indians committed dreadful havoc among 
them. 

At Fredericksburg, the Comanches, the Apaches, the 
Lipans, and the other tribes engaged in traffic with the 
colonists. They brought horses and the skins of tigers, 
panthers, and bears, the skins of the deer, buffalo, and 
swan, which they exchanged for brandy, knives, tin, 
blankets, Venetian pearls, red stuff, and cast-off gold 
lace. In the neighbourhood of the Llano, where 
strangers durst not approach for fear of being scalped, 
were two Comanch villages, which probably do not exist 
at present. These villages were composed of tents 
formed of buffalo hides, and ranged in something like 
hierarchical order, the chief's tent being in the middle, 
and immediately round it the warriors', while the rest 
of the tribe formed the periphery. The two chiefs 
were, Santa Anna, who died of cholera in 1849, and 
Bufalo-Hunt, notorious for his cruelties. These chiefs 



PEAK OF THE COMANCHES. 



119 



were paid a small sum in tobacco and other merchandise, 
to secure their o-ood-will towards the settlements on the 
Llano and Fredericksburg ; and the consequence was, 
that while the other colonies were scourged by the In- 
dians, the Llano and Fredericksburg establishments 
were not molested in any way whatever. 

Near these two camps, a little northward, rises the 
Peak of the Comanches, covered over and sparkling 
with crystallised quartz, in the form of a colossal sugar- 
loaf, which on sunny days blazes like the diamond. This 
is a spot chosen by the Indians for devotional purposes : 
here they assemble to smoke piously through the hollow 
handles of their axes, sending one puff towards the 
sun, and another towards the earth, and singing the 
while a monotonous, rhythmical chant until a late hour 
of the night. When amid the darkness appears the 
pale glare of the Indian fires, and when at the same 
time these melancholy and solemn notes are borne on 
the breeze, mingled with the crackling of leaves and 
the distant sound of the torrent, feelings of ineffable 
charm spring up in the soul ; and this poetic emotion is 
not a little heightened by the possibility, if not by the 
actual imminence, of danger. 

More to the north still, about fifty miles from the 
Llano, are the ruins of San Saba and the silver mines 
worked by Comanches, who extract thence ornaments 
for themselves and for their horses, as likewise balls for 
their rifles. San Saba was once a Spanish mission, 
where the Franciscans, who instructed the savages in 
religion and agriculture, had a fine church built for 
their use ; but during the war of Mexican Independ- 
ence, the Comanches murdered the missionaries and 
burned their church, the ruins of which they conceal 

i 4 



120 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



with such care that there is probably no man living, 
except themselves, who has ever seen them. 

In one of the excursions which Abbe Dubuis made 
to Fredericksburg before cholera broke out, he fell in 
with about twenty Comanch warriors of athletic build, 
very giants in height, who conceived it to be their 
duty to riddle the Abbe with arrows. He cried out to 
them to desist, telling them that he Avas a captain of 
the Great Spirit and Chief of Prayer. Upon this one 
of the Indians, who appeared to be the chief, approached 
him. The Abbe said to him, " Why do you desire to 
do me evil ? Is it not true that Santa Anna is about 
going to San Antonio to conclude a treaty of peace 
with the Americans ? " To which the Indian replied, 
" Santa Anna is too wise to do any such thing. Santa 
Anna will not thrust himself into the bear's jaws, to be 
crushed like a honeycomb ; he remembers too well 
that the pale faces of San Antonio have forked (double) 
tongues. He cannot trust in their word ; they are false 
as the shaking prairie which engulphs the unwary 
hunter." This, no doubt, was an allusion to a bar- 
barous scene which occurred, I think, some time before 
our arrival in Texas, and which deserves to be men- 
tioned. 

The Texians believed that they could rid themselves 
of the Indians by the extermination of the savage 
chieftains. They hoped that the tribes, terror-stricken 
by this terrible example, would in future remain quietly 
within the limits of their own unexplored hunting 
grounds. To compass this object, they hit upon a most 
infamous expedient. They invited the chiefs of the 
neighbouring tribes to come to San Antonio, for the 
purpose of entering into a treaty of peace with them, 



A TRAGEDY. 



121 



in consideration of a large sum which should be paid 
them in merchandise; and the Indian chiefs, trusting 
to the good faith of the whites, went to San Antonio 
without hesitation. More prudent, or probably less 
confiding than the others, Santa Anna remained in his 
camp without, at the same time communicating his 
suspicions to his brother chiefs. When the Indians 
arrived they were conducted to a large apartment, 
where they were shot down with one solitary exception. 
The survivor escaped, axe in hand, and with it cut- 
ting a passage for himself through the midst of his 
assassins, he took refuge in a deserted cabin, resolved 
on selling his life as dearly as he could. Pursued by 
the bullets, which whizzed about his ears, he was un- 
able to escape ; yet no one durst break in the barricaded 
door, behind which the Indian had sheltered himself. 
His assailants knew well with what rapidity the Red 
Skins fire their arrows, and no one wished to be the 
first victim. In this emergency an individual, I know 
not of what nation, proposed to smother him with the 
fumes of pepper. The proposition was hailed with 
acclamation, and accordingly a large quantity of blazing 
pepper was thrown through an opening in the roof, 
and soon deprived the wretched Indian of life. 

Abbe Dubuis then conversed on religious topics with 
his interlocutor, who was no other than Santa Anna 
himself, whom he had already seen at Fredericksburg. 
But whether it was owing to the difficulty of commu- 
nicating their thoughts which was felt by each, or to 
that reserve so natural to an Indian, the result was that 
Abbe Dubuis could glean no satisfactory information as 
to the details of their religious belief, and a meeting, 
which was so nearly being tragical, terminated soon 



122 TEXAS AND MEXICO. 

after. Santa Anna was a formidable adversary ; and, 
without being at all corpulent, he weighed three hundred 
and twenty-three pounds. He was the living image of 
a Titan. 

Abbe Dubuis was also at Fredericksburg when more 
than a thousand Comanches, Lipans, Wakos, and other 
tribes assembled there after a hunting excursion. They 
entered the town yelling in such a way as to strike 
terror into the whole population. Their head-gear was 
composed of the heads of animals which they had killed 
in the chase. They brought with them thousands of 
skins of buffaloes, lions, tigers, bears, deer, and pan- 
thers ; and a great number of their wives accompanied 
them. 

These women, in general, are of a wild and savage 
beauty ; their chemise is tanned deer-skin, ornamented 
with a fringe of red cloth, tin, and Venetian pearls. 
Some of them make a kind of breast-plate with the teeth 
of boars and wild beasts, ranged on their breast like 
the brandebourgs worn by Hussars. They often take 
part in the hunt with their husbands, for the Comanch 
is a polygamist, and can espouse as many wives as he 
likes, on the one condition alone of giving a horse to 
each of them. 

An American officer assured me that he had seen an 
Indian woman, dressed in the skin of a lion which she 
had killed with her own hand — a circumstance which 
manifested on her part no less strength than courage, 
for the lion of Texas, which has no mane, is a very 
large and formidable animal. This woman was always 
accompanied by a very singular animal about the size 
of a cat, but of the form and appearance of a goat. 
Its horns were rose-coloured, its fur was of the finest 



THE LIPANS. 



123 



quality, glossy like silk and white as snow ; but instead 
of hoofs this little animal had claws. This officer 
offered five hundred francs for it ; and the commandant's 
wife, who also spoke of this animal, offered a brilliant 
of great value in exchange for it ; but the Indian woman 
refused both these offers, and kept her animal, saying 
that she knew a wood where they were found in abund- 
ance ; and promised, that if she ever returned again, 
she would catch others expressly for them. 

When the Indians travel with their infant children 
they suspend them from their saddles, with a strap of 
leather which passes between the legs and under the 
arms of the child; but the galloping of the horse shakes 
these poor little things dreadfully, and branches of 
trees and underwood tear and bruise them. It matters 
not, however, as it is a means of inuring them to hard- 
ships. While the child is still a suckling, the mother 
carries it on her back, wrapped in a blanket ; and when 
she gives it the breast, she drags it across her shoulder, 
and thus the child sucks with its head down and its heels 
up. 

In the early days of the colony, Castro ville sometimes 
received a visit from the Lipans, who conducted them- 
selves in a very orderly manner, no doubt from a 
conviction that each of the two hundred huts of the 
colony was provided with, at least, forty rounds of ball- 
cartridge. Many of them wore medals of devotion, 
suspended from their ears, no doubt as a badge of dis- 
tinction. They were very fond of little prints, which 
they never ceased admiring ; hence the Abbe Dubuis 
always kept a stock of them in his Breviary to distribute 
among the Indians, in case he fell in with them. At 
least sixty Lipans came to Castroville, one Sunday, 



124 



TEXAS AND MEXICO, 



daring high mass, and ranged themselves in front of 
the chapel! They seemed delighted with the sacred 
music, and made movements corresponding with the 
congregation during the celebration of divine service. 
A few of them wore, pendant from their ears, curiously- 
shaped shells of the most brilliant colours. 

One of the Lipan chiefs, named Castro, was far from 
being a person of savage character. He had a daughter 
of singular beauty, who died soon after completing her 
eighteenth year. During her illness she was taken to 
the house of the founder of the colony, where she heard 
some airs played on the piano. Bewilderment at first 
seized her, and she listened with open mouth and a 
wild expression of eye to the melody. She then exa- 
mined the wood of the instrument with her hand, viewed 
it above, underneath, and on all sides, then gave way to 
alternate fits of laughter and tears. Never did music 
produce such an effect ; every note seemed to electrify 
her, and act like magic on her nerves, while it worked 
in her the deepest emotions. 

It is beyond doubt that the Lipans had once been in- 
structed in the truths of Christianity ; for their religious 
belief bears its divine impress. They travel less on 
horseback than the Comanches. Men and women 
journey on foot, and half naked, in their migrations from 
place to place. The physical appearance of the tribe 
is inferior to that of the Comanches; and they are rob- 
bers rather than murderers ; yet they manifest no indis- 
position to murder and scalp their victims from time to 
time. 

An old German priest, an enthusiastic naturalist, who 
officiated in Braunfels and the neiahbourino; colonies 
at the time, although almost blind, took it into his head 



NEW DIVINITY AND THE liED SKINS. 



125 



to travel on foot from Braunfels to Fredericksburg 
for the purpose of collecting scientific curiosities along 
the way. He started one fine morning, his only baggage 
being a double pair of spectacles stuck on his nose, a 
tin box slung from his shoulders, and some provisions. 
The first day of his journey his box was filled with rare 
plants, and his pockets crammed with mineralogical 
specimens, while his hat was covered with insects fas- 
tened to it with pins. As he had killed a great many 
serpents of large dimensions, he knotted them together 
and coiled them round his body. The next day, again, 
he killed a rattle- snake, seven or eight feet in length, 
which he also wound round his body, and which served 
him as a belt. On he went in this most grotesque 
attire, never for a moment thinking of the picturesque 
and strange effect he must produce on the minds of those 
who should meet him. Never relaxing in his search for 
some new object to add to his variegated accoutrements, 
and keeping his eyes continually on the ground, he was 
nearly marching into the midst of a body of Comanches 
who were deer- hunting at the time. This walking collec- 
tion of plants, insects, and reptiles, which advanced ma- 
jestically towards them, so terrified them, that they 
fled panic-stricken from it as a supernatural apparition. 
The third day our friend the German had consumed all 
his provisions, and finding only a little fruit in the woods, 
was beginning to feel the cravings of hunger, when he 
descried columns of smoke proceeding from a clearing. 
He at once turned his steps in that direction. Some Red 
Skins had pitched their camp on the spot, but, at the 
sight of this strange pedestrian, they began to yell, 
and prepared at once for flight. The good priest, who 
employed the most significant signs with a view of 



126 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



arresting their flight, and tranquillising them, suc- 
ceeded in the end in making them understand that he 
was dying of hunger. The Indians, not daring to offend 
an unknown divinity, tremblingly placed before him 
coffee, maize, and some mule's flesh, which he ate with 
great avidity, and like a simple mortal. This meal gave 
him strength enough to bring him to Fredericksburg, 
where he arrived on the third day without accident- 
It is related that a Mexican woman of the place, 
having entered the woods to gather wild salad, was 
borne off by some Red Skins. One of them cut off the 
skin round her head to the very bone ; and it only re- 
mained, for the accomplishment of the scalping ope- 
ration, to remove the skin with the hair attached, when 
another Indian interposed, took her as a wife, and con- 
ducted her, wounded as she was, to his tent. She resisted 
with all her strength the brutal lust of her new husband, 
and received such a whipping that her whole body was 
marked with bloody stripes. A few days afterwards 
the Indian, repulsed as usual by his victim, became 
furious by her resistance, armed himself with a hatchet, 
and dealt her two blows, one of which cut off a part of 
her breast, the other inflicted a deep wound on her leg. 
Lifeless, and stretched on a buffalo's hide, she was 
attended by an individual at once doctor, magician, and 
priest — such as is found in every tribe. This per- 
sonage employed, as a remedy, magnetic passes, the juice 
of herbs, and superstitious ceremonies. After long and 
painful sufferings, the unfortunate creature recovered ; 
and her torturer set out again for the chase. Sum- 
moning all her strength and courage, she resolved to 
fly; and creeping in the night time through the tents, 
she mounted a mustang which was feeding in the 



A MEXICAN WOMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



127 



prairie, and started off at full speed in a southerly 
direction. An instant after the Indian entered his tent, 
either because he had given up the chase, or that it 
had occupied a much shorter time than the woman 
had calculated upon. Finding the tent empty, and 
seeing that one of his horses was missing, he set about 
examining the tracks left in the grass and underwood. 
Then springing on the fleetest of his mustangs he darted 
off with the rapidity of lightning. When the day 
dawned he remarked that the tracks were fresh ; and 
redoubling the ardour of pursuit, he arrived two hours 
afterwards in an extensive prairie, where he descried 
the fugitive. The woman heard his whoop as she 
galloped along, and looking back and perceiving the 
imminence of her danger, she so effectually succeeded by 
her voice and the application of her whip in urging on 
the horse to increased speed, that she maintained her 
distance in advance of the Indian. Thus, closely pur- 
sued, she arrived in a plain adjoining Vandenburg ; but 
her pursuer was within two hundred yards of her. At 
this instant two inhabitants of Castroville entered the 
plain from the opposite side. They were armed ; and 
seeing the chase, they ran in its direction. The woman 
galloped towards them ; but as she came up to them, 
horse and rider rolled together on the prairie before 
them. The horse was dead ; and the Indian, seeing 
the two men, disappeared in the woods ; not, indeed, 
that he feared the unequal contest, but from an opinion 
which prevails among the Indians that the loss of one 
of their people is not compensated by the death of ten 
white men. And hence it is that they lie in wait during 
the night, and never make an attack but under the most 
favourable circumstances, and with vastly superior num- 



128 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



bers. The Mexican woman, half dead with terror and 
fatigue, was carried into a hut, where she was provided 
with clothes, and conveyed to Castroville. After a little 
rest, she related to us her adventures, which were well 
attested by the dreadful wounds which she had received, 
Castroville itself was at one time thrown into a state 
of consternation by a fearful tragedy. Four Alsatians 
had disappeared: the butcher who had hung the Swiss; 
a child eleven years of age who had lived with him ; and 
two young colonists who lived with their father near us. 
On. Christmas Eve these unfortunate people went to fetch 
their cattle, and to cut wood near the San Hyeronimo, 
but unguardedly they fell asleep under a tree, and in 
this state they were surprised by Indians, who pinned 
the two youngest victims to the earth with their arrows. 
The two others awoke from their sleep, and being quite 
unarmed, made all the resistance they could. How they 
fought no one can tell, but the combat must have been 
long and obstinate, for in one place we found the broken 
blade of a lance ; in another, a lance with its iron twisted, 
and the grass trodden down in a most remarkable 
manner. The victims had endeavoured, no doubt, to seize 
the arms of their enemies, for the hands of each were 
cut and hacked in a shocking manner, and their bodies 
were riddled with arrows. The butcher had run away, 
but he fared even worse than the others. The dead 
body of his companion was found twenty yards further 
off. The latter evidently tried to escape by flight ; but 
an arrow was sent right through his body, piercing 
the spinal marrow in its passage. We were not able to 
discover the tribe which had committed this frightful 
butchery, for the grooves of the arrows were of different 
forms. When the Indians go on marauding excursions, 



AMERICAN CAMPS. 



129 



they frequently employ this stratagem to baffle the 
whites in their search for the real culprits. Still we 
discovered that the assassins were Red Skins by the 
number of arrows with undulating grooves of a reddish 
colour, and more especially by an outrage quite un- 
heard of up to this time in these solitudes. The child's 
breast was cut in the shape of a cross, and the heart 
was torn out. Was this evidence of cannibalism ? Or 
was the heart destined for some superstitious ceremony, 
or to enter into some medicinal composition ? No one 
could tell. The bodies were placed in coffins, and 
transported to Castroville, while the blood, which still 
ran from their wounds, oozed through the coffins, and 
marked the road with a long streak of red. The 
whole population attended the interment, and every one 
wept. I myself rarely felt more deeply moved than 
when I cast the funereal earth on those unfortunate 
creatures, whose lot might be that of each of us 
one day or other. Grief, mingled with personal ap- 
prehension, spread desolation around these individual 
victims of a common calamity. 

The American camps were rather a source of gain 
to the colonists, than a protection against the Indians, 
who, as we have already seen, used frequently to prowl 
about these camps, kill a sentinel, and then take to flight, 
taking with them horses which they had come to steal, 
and generally accomplishing this with the most consum- 
mate skill, and without noise. As soon as a murder 
or robbery was discovered, the whole garrison turned 
out to give chase ; but before the horses were saddled, 
provisions packed, and pistols loaded, the perpetrators 
were nowhere to be found: and even though the pon- 
derous American cavalry might overtake them, there 

K 



130 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



were no roads ; woods and deep dells were to be tra- 
versed ; the Indians had separated, to divide their 
tracks, and thus render it a mere chance, an unexpected 
rencontre which could bring Indians and soldiers into 
mortal combat. 

The Indians are, even to the present day, so 
numerous, from the Gulf of Mexico to New Britain, 
that years must elapse before civilisation and the " fire- 
water " will dissipate them, or even render them less 
redoubtable. It is only ignorance of their numbers and 
the extent of the territory which they occupy, that can 
induce a belief that the race is almost extinct. It is 
true that European and American emigration is in- 
cessantly narrowing these limits along the sides of 
the Kocky Mountains and New Mexico ; but ere the 
mocassin of the last Red Skin ceases to tread down 
the grass of the prairies, thousands of colonists will 
be obliged to irrigate those solitudes with their sweat. 
Tact and strength avail but little against savages, 
for, in tact and strength the North American pale faces 
are mere children in comparison with the Red Skins. 
The territory occupied by the Indians is covered with 
troops of buffaloes, herds of deer, and other animals 
which supply them with food ; and it is intersected by 
rivers abounding with fish, which they convert to the 
best use. Colonisation deprives them every day of a 
part of their possession, and consequently, of a part of 
their subsistence ; but the real enemy for some is the 
strong water, for others, the small-pox, which commit 
incredible ravages amongst them. 

The civilisation therefore of the Indians is only to be 
effected by the introduction among them of the Catholic 
religion. The experience of many years on different parts 



AMERICAN INTOLERANCE. 



131 



of the American territory proves this assertion. On the 
frontiers, and in the neighbourhood of great colonising 
establishments, the attempts at introducing civilisation 
among the Red Skins are almost always without success. 
The North Americans have abused the confidence, good 
faith, and helplessness of the Indians ; they have ill- 
used and massacred them without pity on different 
occasions, and the Indians ever seek revenge for these 
things. In the war of Florida, General Taylor employed 
blood -hounds to tear and devour his enemies. The 
forked tongue of the "pale faces" is a term which charac- 
terises the bad faith of the Yankees in their intercourse 
with the Indians. Nearly all the agents who carry on 
the fur trade directly with the Indians for the great 
Fur Companies, are French, Canadians, or Creoles. In 
the fastness of the wilderness, among the tribes who 
have had little or no intercourse with the Americans, the 
introduction of civilisation is more easy ; religion makes 
rapid progress ; the natives of the soil become fervent 
Christians ; and although they continue intrepid hunters, 
they lose all ferocity of character, and devote themselves 
to agricultural pursuits. 

In Texas we have not attempted the conversion of 
the Red Skins, because, according to the counsel of St. 
Paul, "Weil-ordered charity begins at home." Now, 
before devoting ourselves to the instruction of the 
Indians, our whole care and all our time should be 
given to the whites ; and we were too few to occupy 
ourselves with two things at the same time. God is, 
without doubt, the master of hearts; yet it is probable 
that the priest who would go among the Comanches to 
convert them, would be scalped in the outset. It is 
not always that people have been so fortunate as to 

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TEXAS AND MEXICO, 



escape their arrows so happily as we have, thanks 
to God. 

Castroville was unquestionably a place of commotions ; 
even without the aid of Indians, dramas were not rare. 
One morning, the wife of a colonist went to gather wild 
salad in a neighbouring valley, where I was in the habit 
of going every day on the same errand. The woman 
never returned ; and her husband, who was obliged 
to keep his bed with a broken leg, and consequently 
unable to go to look for her, sent his children and 
neighbours in search. After an unsuccessful search of 
tAventy-four hours, they found the unfortunate woman 
lying under a tree quite dead. Her head had been 
beaten to atoms and her whole body was covered with 
blood. A stone w T hich was stained with blood, and to 
which adhered a portion of her hair, seemed to be the 
instrument of murder. Near the body was the bent 
blade of a knife which the victim used for cutting the 
salad. We were never able to discover either the cause 
of this murder or the murderer. This tragical event 
spread consternation among the inhabitants, but they 
were soon diverted from their grief by other events no 
less striking. At Castroville, individual misfortunes 
were ever invested with a public character, and all the 
colony sympathised cordially in the grief of those whom 
these murders affected more or less directly. Men 
and women on these occasions put on their best suits of 
black, and the young girls attired themselves in white. 
No one absented himself from the funeral; their 
prayers were interrupted by their tears ; and, into the 
open grave, each threw a handful of earth as a last 
adieu. 

One evening I was requested by an American to bless 



YANKEE PRECOCITY. 



133 



his union with a Mexican woman who resided in the 
neighbourhood of Castroviile. I%iounted my horse, and 
two hours afterwards I arrived in the middle of a wood 
near the Medina, at a rancho with which I was unac- 
quainted. It was night, and the cabin was thronged 
with Americans who were preparing to have a dance. 
The husband could not speak a word of Spanish, nor 
his wife a word of English ; how then had they un- 
derstood each other, and decided upon the marriage ? 
The Americans approached me, either one by one or in 
groups, to interrogate me on religion in general or on 
Catholicism in particular. 

All travellers have remarked a habit among the 
Americans of commencing some religious subject, and 
of entering into controversy with a minister, no mat- 
ter of what denomination, and this in every place, and 
on every occasion, in public, on board a steamer, and 
often with the first comer, be he countryman or stranger, 
known to them or otherwise. Is this a monomania ? or 
a desire to show off, or rather with a view of increasing 
their knowledge ? I am strongly inclined to believe 
that there is something of all these in it. Besides, they 
discuss questions of which they are totally ignorant, 
but in such a way as never to appear beaten, jumping 
from one question to another whenever they are hard 
pressed, and abandoning their half-finished arguments 
as soon as they find it troublesome to maintain them. 
An American wished to convince me that the Bible had 
been fabricated by priests at the fall of the Eoman 
empire. This gentleman was not a formidable antago- 
nist, but he was very serious. It is useless to think of 
convincing them by logic ; no matter what amount of it 
you bring to bear upon them, the only thing you can 

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134 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



obtain from them is an avowal that, " This man plies 
his trade very ably." The prejudice which exists 
against the Catholic religion is really inexplicable in a 
people who vaunt themselves the freest and the most 
civilised in the world. In the forests to the west of 
the United States are found a number of families of 
the Methodist and Presbyterian persuasions, who really 
believe that the Catholic priest is an infernal being with 
veritable horns on his head. One day the Bishop of 
Bufalo was obliged to take off his hat at dinner on 
board a steamer, to prove that he had none. On one 
occasion, on board a steamer which was ascending 
the Mississippi, a Presbyterian lady declaimed fiercely 
against Catholicism, venting her rage against its minis- 
ters, and all this in a loud voice, so that she was 
heard by a Catholic missionary lately arrived from 
Europe, and who was sitting at the same table with her. 
The missionary had but a very imperfect knowledge of 
the English language, and being quite unable to keep 
pace with a very tangled discussion, ventured to give 
an argument ad Jiominem to the Presbyterian lady. 

" Madam," said he, " are you thoroughly acquainted 
with Catholicism and its priests, since you do not fear 
thus to vilify them ? " 

" Certainly not, sir, — and God forbid that I should 
ever know anything about this cursed religion of the 
papists." 

" Well then, that being the case, allow me to say that 
you must be a person of a malicious character." 

At these words, the old lady started up, flushed with 
rage and shame, and thus addressed her interlocutor : — 

" Sir, you are supremely insolent to insult thus a 
lady with whom you are totally unacquainted." 



EARLY DEVOTION TO BUSINESS. 



135 



" Madam, I have not the most remote idea of insulting 
you ; I have only applied to you the argument which 
you have hurled against Catholicism and its ministers. 
Were I acquainted with you, I should not in all proba- 
bility have said the slightest evil of you, for you may be 
the most virtuous woman in the world ; you are wrong 
in decrying a religion with which you are unacquainted, 
and which may be the best in the world after all." 

Nine-tenths of the children in the United States 
go to school as soon as they can walk, and are con- 
sidered as men from that time forth ; and a most ridi- 
culous deference and respect is paid to these citizens in 
short frocks. They are not commanded to do this or 
that, they are respectfully requested to do it. The 
common formula on such occasions, is the following : 

" My dear sir, will you have the kindness to do this, 
or to go there ? " If to the prayer be added a sweet 
cake, the young gentleman obeys with an air of impor- 
tance, which makes his friend smile. As soon as the 
young fellow is able to read, write, and cipher, he 
is placed, no matter where, provided the place be a 
lucrative one. His father, as a last adieu and counsel, 
says to him, " My child, make money ; honestly if 
you can, but at all events make money." The 
child becomes a man ; his life is spent in travelling 
here and there, and in continual traffic ; he chews, 
smokes, and drinks on board the steamer incessantly ; 
he reads the advertisements in the papers, the elec- 
tioneering manifestos, and the names of the candidates. 
Such is American education. And hence, to convert 
them, it is useless to appeal to the mind, or to de- 
pend upon logical reasonings. You must speak to 
the heart, and thus, real, efficacious, and sometimes 

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136 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



easy conquests are obtained. The Bishop of Bufalo, 
who, by his experience, learning, and piety, is one of 
the most distinguished of the American bishops, said to 
me on one occasion, " Remember, for your own direc- 
tion, that I never yet effected the conversion of any 
one by controversy." It is the heart which speaks to 
the heart. Simple, unsophisticated instruction, language 
shorn of all ornament, but breathing profound convic- 
tion and ardent charity, is what moves and draws to 
you the American, by their effect and influence upon 
his soul. Brilliant eloquence, sublime discourses, strike 
his imagination to be sure, but that is all. They think 
only of money, they hear nothing save the sound of 
gold ; and yet, when a voice speaks to their heart, and 
when the sweet names of country, family, charity, 
and the love of God are made to vibrate within them, a 
new chord, a music hitherto wholly unknown, full of 
harmony, calm, and happiness, astonishes, enchants, and 
leads them to the foot of our altars. They begin to 
feel an intellectual joy ; they discover that there is 
something more beautiful and sweet than commerce and 
riches ; they find out that they have a heart and a 
soul, and that this heart and this soul have their duties 
and their aspirations ; it is a spring which has been 
impeded in its action, but not dried up, and which gushes 
forth as soon as a pious hand removes the stones which 
a life of worldly turmoil has heaped upon it. 

The greater part of the Methodist, Presbyterian, 
Baptist, and other ministers of Texas, and the west of 
the United States, are as ignorant as their disciples. 
They embrace this state of life as one would enter on 
the grocery business, without any formality whatever. 
Some of them have but a very limited knowledge of 



EXTREME UNCTION WITH GREASE. 



137 



their duties and of the Bible, which is their only 
guide. 

A friend of mine, a missionary priest, administered 
extreme unction to a dying man in the presence of a 
Methodist minister, who was either a relative or friend 
of the sick person. After the ceremony, the minister 
approached the priest, and inquired of him why he had 
anointed with oil certain parts of the body of the 
dying man. The priest replied that it was a precept 
of the church, founded on the 14th and 15th verses of the 
5th chapter of St. James, who says, " Is any man sick 
among you? let him bring in the priests of the church, 
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in 
the name of the Lord : and the prayer of faith shall 
save the sick : and the Lord shall raise him up : and 
if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him." The 
minister confessed that he had never read that passage, 
and promised that he would avail himself of it at the 
first opportunity. And the fact is, that ever afterwards 
he imitated the Catholic unction of the dying ; but as 
oil was very dear, he usually employed melted grease, 
and with this he rubbed the sick person from head to 
foot. The Episcopalians and Quakers are better in- 
formed, and consequently more tolerant, and less violent 
against the Catholics. 

Of all the Methodist eccentricities which I witnessed, 
the most curious unquestionably was, a camp meeting. 
This ludicrous custom leads to very great excesses. 
The sectaries assemble in a plain or in a wood, and 
generally remain there for three days. Here they form 
an encampment, and subsist on the provisions which 
they have brought with them from home. Their time 
is spent in listening to the sermons of their ministers, 



138 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



in singing psalms, and reciting prayers. Women of a 
certain age get into melting moods, weep, and utter 
cries of anguish and repentance at the sight of their 
sins ; sometimes they imagine that the Holy Ghost de- 
scends upon them ; then, in their own words, they are 
happy, and impelled by a desire of making their 
brethren sharers in their happiness, they mount the 
platform, and preach in their turn. Their words 
are intermingled with sobs and cries, and the assem- 
bly, already disposed to excitement by fasting and 
watching, thereby receive most profound impressions. 
Among the rigid Methodists, who are styled saints, it is 
not unusual to see young girls preach, and with an air 
of inspiration and an extraordinary volubility of utter- 
ance, deliver the most impassioned discourses, until at 
length they fall into paroxysms of nervous excitement, 
and into the most frightful convulsions. Among these 
fanatical apostles and penitents of the desert are to be 
found many young men, who go to the assemblies for 
the sake of amusement, and also young females, who 
follow their parents there much against their will. 
Amidst the ceremonies, and during the night, certain 
liaisons are formed, in which morality suffers. 

It sometimes happens that comic scenes slightly 
modify the gravity of these meetings. One day, a 
preacher in petticoats, of a very attractive appearance, 
caught the attention of an Irishman, who had been 
drawn thither by mere curiosity. He interrupted the fair 
preacher by asking her whether she was married. In 
an instant her cheeks were suffused with blushes, and 
she made no answer. The question, however, being 
repeated, she replied angrily, but with an inspired air : 
" Yes, I am married to our Lord Jesus Christ." The 



CAMP MEETINGS. 



139 



Irishman retired, with an air of vexation, saying: 
"I am greatly afraid, Madam, that you'll never be 
admitted into the house of your father-in-law, for you 
have been married without his consent." The whole 
assembly broke out into a roar of laughter. 

Still, in such an assembly it is not prudent to inter- 
rupt the preachers by absurd or ridiculous questions. 
By so doing you expose yourself to the risk of being 
torn to pieces ; and hence these interruptions are very 
rare. The American press attempted to brand these 
disorders with infamy, and to hold up the Camp Meet- 
ings to public ridicule. But it would be a difficult task 
to convince these enthusiasts that their assemblies are 
more destructive of public morality than useful to 
religion. 



140 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



CHAP. VI. 

A PROJECT. — A JOURNEY IN THE PRAIRIES. — A NIGHT IN THE 

TROPICS. CHIT-CHAT IN THE WOODS LAVACA.— THE FATE OF 

A COAT. A J EW IN REALITY BUT NOT SO IN APPEARANCE. 

COLLECTE. NATCHEZ. — CREVASSES. A RACE ALONG THE 

RIVER JAUNE. RETURN TO TEXAS. A MELANCHOLY DEATH. 

— THE FUTURE OF A MISSIONARY. A PROSY VOYAGE. A DINNER 

NOT EASY TO EAT. A TERRIBLE NIGHT. A TETE-A-TETE WITH 

PANTHERS. ARRIVAL AT SAN ANTONIO. 

The Abbe Dubuis and myself conceived a vast and 
hazardous project, the realisation of which would have 
been beyond our strength and the means at our dis- 
posal, had we had less confidence in God and ourselves. 
The reader is already aware that our chapel was too 
small, and so wretched in every respect, that it neither 
protected us against rain, sun, nor serpents. Often, 
too, wild beasts took refuge there from the raging 
storm. The Abbe and myself conceived the idea of 
building a church ; and I made out a plan and drawings, 
with minute and complete calculations. The realisation 
of this project, difficult as it was on account of our want 
of money, was nevertheless a thing of real necessity for 
the colony, and likely to add very much to its impor- 
tance. We stated our intentions to the colonists, and 
thereby awakened their ambition ; but then they were 
unable to afford us much assistance save that of their 
brawny arms, and the offering of some building materials. 
The wealthiest among them promised us a little pecu- 



A JOURNEY IN THE PRAIRIES. 



141 



niary aid. All expenses computed, we found that the 
workmanship alone would amount to something about 
one hundred and sixty pounds sterling. This sum I 
took upon myself to collect, were I even to traverse the 
whole extent of the United States for the object. 

I recollected some Creole families of Louisiana, and 
some other acquaintances of mine in that state. I 
calculated on creating a great sensation by my racy 
and authentic accounts of a country of which so many 
improbable stories had gone abroad, and I hoped to 
convert all this into money. My friend Charles, who 
purposed establishing a warehouse at Castroville, had 
some idea of going to New Orleans to make purchases. 
His society would be most agreeable, and would serve 
to lessen very materially the rigours of that life which I 
should necessarily lead in this pious expedition. 

We should travel on horseback without compass 
or guide, across vast, uninhabited prairies, with the 
very probable risk of losing our way. Many colonists 
travelling through the prairies, either in pursuance 
of their callings, or in search of their cattle, fail 
in finding the way back, and, exhausted with hunger 
and thirst, sit down at the foot of a tree, where death 
puts an end to their sufferings. Besides this, there was 
the danger of being scalped by the Indians; and 
we could not reckon upon game for subsistence, so that 
we should be obliged to carry large supplies of pro- 
visions with us ; and as we could not hope to discover 
water every day, I provided myself with a piece of 
citric salt, with which to rub my tongue whenever 
thirst became insupportable. I was now about to enjoy 
the more or less poetic adventures of a nomade life 
— a life under tents; and I must confess that from the 



142 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



little previous experience I had had of such a life, the 
prospect before me was in no wise cheering. 

Of the two horses which we took with us, one was 
lent and the other was sold us for twenty-two piastres. 
My horse was a fiery animal, and formerly the property 
of a Comanche, as was evident from his ears being cut 
in the shape of a Y. So, one evening we bade adieu to 
the Abbe Dubuis, and set out on our journey, Charles 
gay as usual, while my whole attention was engrossed 
by the caprices of my indocile steed. We bivouacked 
in a chapral of the Leona ; the horses were unsaddled 
and tied to mesquites, around which there was rich 
pasturage, and their saddles served us as pillows. Having 
selected a spot at some distance from the trees where 
we should be less exposed to the attacks of tarantulas 
and scorpions, enveloped in blankets, we stretched our- 
selves on the grass. 

It was a lovely night ; and the beauteous tropical 
sky shed around us from its millions of stars a pale 
sweet light, while not a cloud appeared on the dark pure 
blue of that immense gold-spangled dome. A gentle 
breeze, bearing with it a cooling freshness, played 
through the foliage of the trees, and lulled us to repose 
by its whisperings. I had read, in a modern poet, 
that it was a pleasant thing to sleep in the bosom of a 
tropical night in a warm, perfumed atmosphere, with 
the green sward for one's bed, and the starry firmament 
for its canopy, plunged in the inebriating influence of 
glorious nature, and the enervating enchantment of 
dreams. It cannot be denied that the air was mild, 
the night lovely, the heavens covered with myriads of 
twinkling stars ; but it must be confessed that the 
green sward was frightfully hard. Small flint pebbles 



A TROPICAL NIGHT'S REPOSE. 



143 



abounded, and the grass which covered them was not 
thick enough to prevent us from feeling their sharp 
points. In whatever position I settled myself, it was 
equally painful. Much against my will I lay quite 
awake, and nowise disposed to dream ; yet the insects 
were even more awake than I was, and me they selected 
as the theatre of their nocturnal gambollings. On all 
sides they discovered passages through which they 
made their way under my garments, and rejoiced at 
having succeeded in effecting their purpose, they stung 
me horribly ; they came and they went, and they halted 
to sting me again. Larger animals prowled around 
us, and all night our ears were entertained with the 
barking of coyotes (foxes) and the caterwaulings of 
panthers and tiger-cats. I was aware that these ani- 
mals never attack man unless driven to it by hunger, 
and, generally speaking, they are shy and timid ; never- 
theless they are extremely capricious. Notwithstanding 
this apparent timidity, the sound of their voice was 
anything but agreeable music to me. It was in vain 
that I recalled to mind the proofs and examples of the 
harmlessness of their nature ; these proofs, convincing as 
they were, did not quite tranquillise me, nor did they 
prevent my heart from beating much more quickly than 
usual. In short, that nothing might be wanting, the 
night dews chilled me, and as we had not lighted a fire, 
for fear of the Indians, the damp penetrated me, and I 
was seized with incessant shivering. Now, all this 
was prosaic with a vengeance; and I fancied that the 
poet who had given us such a lively picture of the 
sweetness of such a night, must have thought upon it 
sitting in his comfortable arm-chair, or sleeping in his 
snug bed. Notwithstanding all these discomforts, how- 



144 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



ever, Charles slept ; nay, he slept soundly and with the 
noise of a high-pressure engine. 

We rose with the dawn ; but this time certainly there 
was no great merit in our early rising. We set off in 
the direction of Lavaca, on the Gulf of Mexico, whence 
a steamer was to convey us to Galveston. Yv T e forded 
the San Antonio, behind the mission of San Jose, 
and then traversed a thick chapral which led us to a 
wood of mesquites of enormous size. It was only ten 
o'clock in the forenoon, and still so oppressive was the 
heat, that we were obliged to make a halt. The horses 
were unsaddled, the blankets spread under a large tree, 
and while I read my breviary, Charles lighted a fire to 
while away the time. Although in no wise necessary, a 
good fire is so gladdening to the heart of the traveller in 
these solitudes, that he need offer no apology for afford- 
ing himself this innocent pleasure. We partook of a 
repast which might be considered breakfast or dinner ; 
it was however a frugal meal, for the heat obliges 
even those who might otherwise be inclined to in- 
dulge a little, to practise temperance. The repast over, 
we lighted our pipes, and, as the smoke ascended in 
light clouds, we talked of bygone days, which were to 
us but as the tableaux of a pleasant dream, in which, 
as in a dreary background, appeared our homestead ; 
the old church, where, as children, we used to say our 
prayers ; the centenarian lime-trees, which witnessed 
our gambols ; the beloved mother, who rocked us to 
sleep as she hummed her song of love ; the playmates of 
our childhood, — that golden age, when all is happiness, 
— sweet reminiscences, yet cruel, as their reflection flung 
a crowd of sorrow over the present. Of the future we 
spoke but little, — sufficient unto the day is the evil 



MISSIONARY TRIALS. 



145 



thereof, and then the breaking down of health, and the 
total exhaustion of my strength contracted my horizon 
in a very melancholy way ; to me it appeared oversha- 
dowed with dark and angry clouds. I closed my eyes 
that I might not look before me, and spoke only of the 
passing moment, of that journey which was far from 
being agreeable, but which promised variety, and a few 
of those unforeseen events which occupy the mind, and 
prevent it from thinking. When God, to try a mis- 
sionary, abandons him to his own weakness, distraction 
is happiness. 

Many good Christians in France imagine that God 
continually showers down upon us torrents of fortifying 
grace, which renders us superhuman, so to speak, and 
quite insensible to the sufferings of earth ; they fancy 
that at each prayer which either our moral or physical 
sufferings carry before His throne, He sends down an 
angel to dry up our secret tears, and to fill us with joy 
and strength. Alas ! the missionary is as weak as his 
fellow men ; like them he suffers, and if God consoles 
him, it is not by virtue of a special favour, but in con- 
sequence of that infinite goodness which He vouchsafes 
to all the humble of heart who throw themselves at His 
feet. For us, as for all other Christians, heaven is not 
a gift, but a recompense : to obtain it, we must labour 
and suffer. If happiness and joy were the missionary's 
companions in his apostleship, where would be his merit ? 
If our souls were mere novices in the life of trials, if we 
ourselves were not drenched in bitterness, how could we 
sympathise in the sufferings of others ? How could we 
love and console the wretched, if our hearts were callous 
and strangers to sentiments of affection ? Each one 
makes a priest to his own taste, and criticises him 

L 



146 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



who is not modelled after his ideal ...... Poor 

humanity ! 

About four o'clock in the afternoon, we pursued our 
journey. Reaching the neighbourhood of a Mexican 
ranchoj we were very thirsty, and asked for some milk. 
There was milk in the house, but the farmer's wife had 
already mixed it with bran to give it to the pigs. 
Such was our thirst, however, that we swallowed some 
mouthfuls of the swine's portion. The Cibolo runs 
near this ranclio, but its bed is generally dry in this 
district. The water runs underground only to reappear 
a little farther off. 

In the evening we encamped in a prairie, thinly 
planted with mesquites. To prevent the insects from 
annoying me as they did the night before, I wrapped my 
head and ears carefully in a kerchief, rolled myself 
in my blanket, and hearing no noise I slept pretty 
soundly. On the second day after this, we were com- 
pletely knocked up — the trotting of the horses had 
broken us down, and still we wished to force our march 
with a view of reaching a distant farm where we might 
pass the night. From this farm we were separated by 
a long prairie without any shade ; the sun fell per- 
pendicularly upon our heads ; and the skin of my face 
was quite burned, and fell off in large flakes. Towards 
evening our horses were knocked up with fatigue. 
Mine had completely lost his starting ardour, and 
dragged his tottering legs after him with difficulty. We 
dismounted to ease our steeds and to hold them up. 

We had proceeded on our journey about an hour when 
I heard Charles suddenly utter a cry of terror, He was 
a few paces in advance, perfectly motionless, and, as it 
were, fascinated by an enormous rattlesnake, which 



GOLIAD. 



147 



was rearing and writhing within a few feet of the place 
where he stood. More accustomed than my friend 
to encounters of this kind, I advanced towards the 
monster, cracking my whip as I approached ; and it 
glided into the prairie to the right of our route. 

I suffered dreadfully from thirst ; but having nothing 
wherewith to slake it, I stretched myself on the ground, 
and began to suck in the dew-drops which lay on the 
leaves but scantily enough. Again I mounted my horse, 
with my throat and chest all on fire, — and as my friend 
Charles had quite recovered from the fright which his 
encounter with the serpent had occasioned, we sum- 
moned up all our good humour to shorten the road, 
and at length, about midnight, we reached the farm. 
A good meal, a roof to shelter us, and a bed, three 
excellent things which we were rejoiced to meet with, 
did us all imaginable good. 

The next day's journey brought us into a more civi- 
lised county. The first town on our route was Goliad, 
an insignificant place, built by the Americans in the 
vicinity of an old Mexican fortification called La Bahia. 
La Bahia, which lay along a chain of pleasant hills, had 
been thickly peopled ; during the War of Independence, 
however, it was made one vast heap of ruins by the 
Texians. The country is very fertile ; and maize is every 
where cultivated, while magnificent tracts of rich pas- 
turage support large herds of fine oxen, horses, and 
sheep. We next crossed the Coleto, which runs through 
an extensive prairie, and like all the rivers of Texas, 
is bordered on each side by trees of great height and 
strength, which grow so closely to each other, and are, 
besides, so interlaced with the wild vine, ferns, and 
underwood, that in some places it is quite impossible 



148 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



for either man or beast to force a passage through 
them. 

In the evening we arrived at Victoria, which promises 
soon to be a flourishing town, owing to its favourable 
position on the Colorado, which is navigable nearly all the 
way from this place to the sea. We remained one night 
with the priest of Victoria, Father Fitzgerald, an 
athletic young Irishman, of considerable abilities. I had 
made the good Father's acquaintance some time before, 
at Galveston. As it was only thirty-two miles from 
Victoria to Lavaca, and as there was no pasturage in 
the neighbourhood of this place, we left our horses at 
Victoria, intending to call for them on our return. 
Accordingly, we hired a small vehicle from a French- 
man, and set out the same evening. 

On my way to Lavaca I was struck with the sin- 
gular undulations of the plain — a very sea of sand. 
The undulations of the land, long, smooth, and uni- 
form, resemble (so as almost to deceive one,) the 
ebb and flow of the tide. I should be strongly dis- 
posed to think that the Gulf of Mexico, in times of old, 
had extended to this point, and that its waves had 
been transformed into sand at the stroke of a magician's 
wand, had I not observed the same phenomenon in the 
plain of the Leona, one hundred and fifty leagues from 
the sea at Lavaca. There was but one hotel, and a few 
wooden houses built along the beach. It is the place 
of debarkation for the German families who found our 
colonies. Here they are thrown ashore without shelter, 
provisions, or means of transport; and, as a natural con- 
sequence, numbers of them die of hunger, or perish by 
the severity of the climate. The aspect of these few huts 
scattered here and there is dreary beyond expression. 



ARRIVAL AT GALVESTON. 



149 



The steamer had not arrived, so we could not proceed 
on our journey. Our only amusement in the meantime 
was line-fishing, but we could not indulge even in this 
agreeable pastime during the scorching heat of the day. 
Walking, too, was out of the question, owing to the want 
of every kind of shade and protection from the sun. We 
resolved, therefore, to sleep during the day, and be up and 
stirring during the night; but thousands of mosquitoes, 
which we never dreamed of, forced us to change our plan. 
One night that I could not sleep, I went to take a swim 
in the bay ; but I had scarcely entered the water when 
lo ! by the moonlight I saw an enormous shark approach 
me. Only imagine how r quickly I scampered out of 
the water ! Sharks are both very numerous and very 
voracious in the Gulf of Mexico; and thousands of 
stories are told of tragic events having occurred along 
its shores ; hence I really feared that I, in my turn, 
should become the hero of some legend. 

At length we put to sea, and in twenty-four hours 
arrived at Galveston ; but the good bishop was absent. 
My black cotton coat was four years old, and from the 
effects of sun and rain it was now all the colours of the 
rainbow, — old age and long service had worn it to rags. 
My trousers were quite as bad as my coat ; as for 
my hat, it had neither shape nor colour. It was quite 
clear that I could not proceed to New Orleans in this 
plight. Having therefore borrowed a coat from one of 
the bishop's people, I brought it to the convent of the 
Ursuline ladies to be mended. The good sisters, having 
considered the matter attentively, concluded that the 
best thing to be done was to put in new sleeves, black 
ones, of course, but lo ! when the job was completed the 
contrast between the old material and the new was so 

L 3 



150 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



ludicrously striking, that it was preposterous to attempt 
to wear the coat in a civilised country. Misfortune, 
however, sometimes brings good in its train ; and so it 
turned out with me. My friends of the bishop's house 
made a collection among themselves, from the produce 
of which they purchased me a coat — a luxury which I 
was not at all accustomed to. 

We set sail again, and two days afterwards ar- 
rived at New Orleans. The great city of the south was 
at that time visited with a triple scourge — cholera, 
yellow fever, and inundation. The Mississippi had 
broken down its banks above the suburb of La Fayette, 
and its waters rushed into the streets. Almost every- 
where through the city people communicated with each 
other in boats — a circumstance which augmented the 
labour attendant on my difficult task of collecting 
money. To make matters worse, the citizens had 
already been solicited for charities on many occasions 
a short time before my arrival, and, besides, business 
was extremely dull. 

The pious and noble-hearted archbishop, when grant- 
ing me permission to make a collection, said to me: 
" If you succeed in collecting twenty-five piastres, you 
could do no better than employ them to defray the ex- 
penses of your journey back to Texas." But I had not 
made so long a journey to be so quickly discouraged, 
and putting all my confidence in God, I began the col- 
lection. The first day, an Irish Catholic gave me 
twenty piastres ; and the following days the subscription 
amounted to about ten piastres daily. A certain tailor, a 
Jew, of whom I had bespoken a pair of trowsers, chatted 
with me about my mission while taking my measure. 
After half-an-hour's conversation, the good man made 



BORDERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 151 

me a present of an entire suit of clothes, handing me 
at the same time five piastres for my future church 
— an act of generosity which excited a deep feeling of 
gratitude in my heart. Still the collection went on 
but slowly, and I was frequently employed in minis- 
tering to the spiritual wants of the cholera patients. 
I resolved, therefore, to leave New Orleans as soon as 
possible. 

My first visit was to the little villages along the Mis- 
sissippi, as I depended more upon the rich planters 
for subscriptions than upon the merchants of the city. 
At Donaldsonville, on the right bank of the river, and 
twenty-four miles from New Orleans, the parish priest 
collected a small sum in a few days, his own offering 
being a few sacred vestments. From Donaldsonville I 
rode along the banks of the River Fourche, as far as 
Thibaudeauville, about thirty miles farther on. 

Sugar plantations and fields of maize border the route 
in uninterrupted succession, and every now and again you 
see noble mansions, some painted white, others green, 
all ornamented and covered with creeping plants, tro- 
pical flowers, rose trees in full blow, and altheas. In 
the background is seen that endless extent of forests 
which everywhere stretch along the river banks. On 
my way I came upon a crevasse, — one of those open- 
ings which the Mississippi and its tributaries effect 
in their embankments, and through which their waters 
rush, and devastate the plain. Thousands of negroes 
were at work up to the waist in mud, striving to 
stop up the crevasse with fascines, branches of trees, and 
a kind of hemp, made of a parasite plant called barbe 
cV Espagnol, which hangs pendant from the trees in long 
tendrils. This plant destroys the trees to which it clings 

ii 4 



152 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



by absorbing all their sap. When dried, the natives 
use it for stuffing mattresses. 

Thibaudeauville is rather a garden than a town, so 
embedded and concealed is it by catalpas, magnolias, 
plane-trees, and pines. The parish priest, a young 
Frenchman, was constructing a large handsome church 
at the time. More favoured than ourselves, he had almost 
completed his work, while we were in complete uncer- 
tainty as to whether we should ever be able to begin 
ours. Although all his money was sunk in this grand 
undertaking, yet he made me some valuable presents. 
A Jewess of rank, who had just purchased a ball-dress, 
being made acquainted with the poverty of our mission, 
presented it to us as her offering to our contemplated 
church. I subsequently converted this dress into two 
beautiful white chasubles. Of a certainty, the Jews 
are less Jews than we generally believe. Noble example 
for Catholics, to see this Jewish lady foregoing all the 
pleasures of the ball to aid a Catholic priest in his work 
of charity ! 

I next visited Natchez, a small town built on an ele- 
vated plateau, at whose feet the Mississippi rolls on in all 
its majestic windings and sinuosities ; and in the distance, 
as far as the eye can reach, stretch out the endless mo- 
notonous forests of Louisiana. The houses of Natchez 
are constructed of brick, and have a melancholy air ; 
the streets are wide and at right angles to each other, 
and all are bordered with shady trees. The most striking 
object is the church, which, although recently con- 
structed, has already met with various mishaps. On the 
strength of subscriptions guaranteed by the wealthy 
townspeople who viewed in the future edifice an em- 
bellishment for the town, the church rose rapidly ; un- 



THE NATCHEZ TRIBE. 



153 



fortunately, however, the subscribers only paid part of 
their subscriptions, and in the end it was found necessary 
to sell it by auction to liquidate the debt. Fortunately, 
Father Raho, the Vicar-General, during a tour he made 
through Louisiana and Mexico, collected as much money 
as repurchased the church, and it was accordingly 
restored to divine worship. This example was well 
calculated to encourage me. The Bishop of Natchez 
was still at Rome, where he was assassinated in 1848 or 
1849 ; but the Vicar-General received me with open 
arms, for I had known him when he was Rector of the 
College of St. Louis. Like Abbe Dubuis, he had a heart 
of gold in a body of steel. I was very much attached 
to him, and he in turn cherished the kindliest recollection 
of me. I visited some Catholic families, from whom I 
received alms. 

In one of my excursions in the neighbourhood, I fell 
in with a miserable remnant of the once famous tribe 
of the Natchez. You cannot imagine anything more 
wretched or less interesting than their appearance — 
not a trace of their past glory remains, if indeed they 
were glorious for aught but being sung by Chateau- 
briand. 

At my departure, the good Father Raho, although 
very straitened in circumstances himself, borrowed 
money to buy me some shirts and shoes, for I was re- 
duced to the direst want of these articles. 

I got on board a steamer to descend the river as far 
as Baton Rouge; but our boat foundered just as we were 
starting, and I escaped by jumping to the bank. Fortu- 
nately no one was drowned, and our only inconvenience 
was in being obliged to await the arrival of another boat. 
It is at Baton Rouge that the legislature of Louisiana 



154 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



holds its sessions, in an immense Gotho- American build- 
ing, constructed of iron, marble, and granite. Here too 
is one of those Penitentiaries of which the Countess 
Merlin speaks in her Letters on Havannah, The parish 
priest, a Frenchman, — very learned in natural history 
and having a splendid collection of plants and animals, 
received me very cordially. His learning proved most 
useful to the people on many occasions. During my 
stay a conflagration broke out in the open plain, and 
extended over a large surface. This was looked upon 
as the forerunner of a volcanic eruption, and imme- 
diate recourse was had to the cure to ask his advice 
and counsel. He desired them to bring him a portion 
of the inflammable earth, and recognised at once the 
presence of phosphorus and ammonia in great quan- 
tities. The phenomenon was attributed by him to the 
vicinity of a cemetery and a privy, and thus the town 
was tranquillised. I preached one Sunday to a small 
audience on my mission, and although the planters had 
not as yet received the proceeds of their harvest, the 
offerings amounted to three or four hundred francs. 
The cure himself contributed some handsome ornaments 
for the altar ; and at my departure I invoked the bene- 
diction of Heaven upon this charitable town. 

I crossed the Mississippi to go to West-Baton Kouge, 
and on my way I came upon another very broad crevasse. 
These crevasses form in many instances deep and dan- 
gerous marshes. Will it be believed, that the crevasse of 
which I am now speaking was attributed to crabs ? No 
doubt, crabs are in myriads in this spot ; still, the 
more I compare the cause with the effect, the more 
I am at a loss to explain the mystery. Here is the 
explanation given me by a young Creole, who was 



OPJGIN OF CREVASSES. 



155 



with me at the time : the crabs make tubular holes in 
the earth, which, when prolonged, pierce the embank- 
ment. Through the hole thus formed, a small quantity 
of water issues, which the pressure of the river in- 
creases at every instant. Should two of the holes be 
in juxtaposition, the water by degrees wears away the 
earth between them, and in a short time throws them 
both into one; and the volume of water being thus 
increased, enlarges its narrow channel, rushes into other 
crab holes until at length the bank is completely 
destroyed, and out rushes a river which inundates the 
plain. During the day negroes are employed in de- 
stroying the nests of crabs, and hence these occurrences 
happen ordinarily during the night. But the crevasse 
in question w^as so broad and deep, that they were 
obliged to wait for the waters of the river to diminish 
before they could repair it. We could not cross it 
on horseback, so we took a boat, and I went to the 
house of my young Creole, where the family received 
me with great politeness and cordiality, and subse- 
quently, by their offerings, increased the sum which 
I had already collected. 

The sum total of the collection amounted to 200 
piast res, and I had no reason what ever to complain of the 
success of my enterprise ; but now a variety of circum- 
stances prevented me from pursuing it. The parish 
priest of Donaldsonville, when I arrived on the 4th of 
July, (the anniversary of the United States' Indepen- 
dence,) had been invited by his parishioners to deliver 
a discourse, befitting that solemn occasion. As this 
was a high compliment conferred on him, he accepted 
it with due acknowledgments, and was therefore bound 
to fulfil the engagement ; but at the very moment he was 



158 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



repairing to the meeting, he was summoned in all haste 
to administer the last Sacraments to the cholera 
patients, who were in a dying state at the Yellow 
River. Now, his discourse would occupy two hours at 
least, and hence the impossibility of going that day to the 
Yellow River, a distance of thirty-five miles ; for it was 
near five o'clock in the evening : still the poor people 
could not be abandoned, accordingly, the parish priest 
asked me to go in his place, a request I could not think 
of refusing. It was the rainy season, and as the roads, 
with which I was totally unacquainted, were converted 
into quagmires, the cure lent me his favourite horse, 
Zephyr, an animal fleet as the wind, and ready to clear 
any inclosure-wall when the gate was shut. My guide 
was a negro, and my companion an artilleryman of the 
national guard. 

About five o'clock in the evening we crossed the 
Mississippi in a boat which landed us on a kind of bank, 
from which the water had receded very recently. 
Being first on land, I was waiting until my com- 
panions had all left the boat, and until the boatman 
had received his fare, when the artilleryman cried out 
to me, " Into your saddle in an instant, and ply your 
spurs, or you are a lost man." Without paying any at- 
tention to the matter, I perceived that the horse and 
myself were sinking fast in the moving sand, and were 
already embedded in it up to the knees. After a long 
struggle I succeeded at last in liberating myself and 
mounting Zephyr, who, after a few powerful plunges, 
saved me and himself from all danger. 

The rain fell in torrents, and my military friend, 
with a view, no doubt, of saving his uniform, took 
refuge in a neighbouring house, whilst the negro and 



A STORM. 



157 



myself pursued our journey along a muddy road, 
bounded on the left by the earthen wall which in- 
dicated the course of the Mississippi, but concealed its 
waters from our view, and having dreary plantations 
and uncultivated fields in uninterrupted succession on 
the right. Night was approaching, and my guide 
advised me to quicken my pace, for we had still two 
crevasses before us. " More crevasses ! " cried I, sorely 
annoyed at the announcement. I neither minded fatigue 
nor dangers, but for crevasses I had a deep aversion, and 
I resolved never to live in Louisiana, afflicted as it was 
by this scourge, which fertilises the country every year, 
but which involves several planters in utter ruin. 
Aided by bright moonlight we crossed the crevasses; 
in some places the horses sank in the mud up to the 
saddle-girths ; in others, they were obliged to swim and 
breast a strong current. 

Having overcome all these obstacles, we turned to the 
right, into the interior of the country, and now struck 
upon a better road across a thick forest. Though I was 
wet to the skin, and covered with mud, yet I listened 
with delight to the voice of the tempest, which was 
raging around us. The howling of the wind through the 
leaves, the crashing of trees, the noise of the branches, 
as they were dashing against each other, the terrific 
thunder-claps which followed in rapid succession — 
the outbursts of Nature's wrath — in short, to all this 
I hearkened with delight. Huge clouds rushed over 
the moon ; at intervals she would show herself and 
fling before our affrighted horses the shadows of the 
mighty trees which skirted the way. Still we gal- 
loped on. 

Having crossed an immense marsh formed by the 



158 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



late rains, we knocked at a cabin -door, having reached 
our destination. An old woman, who opened the door, 
offered rne a cup of coffee to warm me ; but it was after 
midnight, and although half dead from fatigue and hun- 
ger, I was obliged to remain fasting as I had to celebrate 
the Holy Mysteries in the morning. My clothes and 
shoes were covered with a thick coating of mud, as were 
also my hands and face. In this plight I could not 
present myself before any company, and what remained 
of the night would have afforded me barely sufficient 
time to make some change in my person and dress. 
Still I could hardly keep my eyes open, so sleepy was 
I ; and, in truth, I had need of sleep to forget my 
hunger. But how was I to meet all these necessities ? 
The following plan struck me as best, and I adopted 
it. I procured a barrel full of water, into which I 
plunged myself, clothes and all; and, armed with a brush 
I scrubbed myself from head to foot for half-an-hour ; 
then I took off my clothes, hung them before the fire, 
and went to bed. Next morning I rose early to pre- 
pare the sick for the reception of the Sacraments, which 
could not be administered until after Mass. I put on 
my clothes, which were far from being dry ; and the 
damp cold of them made me shiver all over. Still I 
could delay no longer, as I was actually fainting from 
inanition. After Mass I baptised a great number of 
young negroes. At length, about mid-day, I was 
enabled to take some refreshment ; but I was so weak 
that I had neither the strength nor the desire to eat ; 
I merely swallowed a cup of coffee, and returned to 
Donaldsonville, without having seen any trace of the 
Yellow River, and without having ascertained who it 
was that gave that name to a few wretched cabins. 



RETURN TO TEXAS. 



159 



Next day I returned to New Orleans, bringing with 
me several boxes of linen and church ornaments ; but I 
began to be afflicted with rheumatic pains, which 
stiffened my limbs, and tortured me at every movement. 
Oh how full of thorns are the roses of the Mission ! 
Two letters awaited me at New Orleans — one from a 
young countryman of mine, the Abbe Chanrion, whom 
a broken constitution obliged to retire from the labours 
of the Mission. He announced to me his approaching 
end, and begged the assistance of my prayers. The poor 
fellow died a month afterwards, at New Orleans, after 
a lingering illness, and after having maintained here 
below, as long as he could, and in the midst of sufferings, 
the breath of worthless life. The other letter was from 
Abbe Dubuis, who pressed me to return as quickly as 
possible to Castroville, where the cholera having broken 
out with increased intensity, overwhelmed him with 
labour. He himself had just recovered from another at- 
tack, thanks to our famous specific. I at once suspended 
the work of begging, and made my preparations for the 
journey without losing a moment, to fly to the succour 
of my beloved confrere. Having packed vases of flowers, 
linen, church ornaments, and presents of all sorts, I 
embarked for Galveston, where Charles joined me. 

We landed at Indian Point, a small town built on a 
tongue of sand, in the bay of Matagorda. Three-fourths 
of its inhabitants are German. We expected to find a 
new conveyance to Castroville more easily than at 
Lavaca. A bargain was no sooner concluded with a 
German than I wrote to Father Fitzgerald, of Victoria, to 
say that we should soon be with him, and to pray him 
to have our horses in readiness. We soon started again 
on our journey, in a vehicle drawn by two strong mules. 



160 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



As we passed through the plain of Lavaca, under a 
broiling sun (it was the beginning of August), we per- 
ceived a small tilbury dashing towards us at a furious 
rate. The driver, a negro, pulled up as soon as we met, 
and asked me was I Father Domenech ? 

" Yes," I replied. 

" Then," said he, " drive on as fast as you can, for 
Father Fitzgerald is dying at Victoria." 

" Dying !" said I. " Why, what' has happened ?" 

"He had been doing missionary duty at Corpus Christi, 
on the Gulf of Mexico," replied the man ; " the rains 
wetted him through and through — and he returned 
home ill — and this morning he sent me for you, to re- 
ceive the last Sacrament at your hands." 

I threw myself into the tilbury, which set off again at 
the same speed. I saw an enormous panther on the 
side of the road ; it could not have measured less than 
five feet from head to tail. Our horse, in his onward 
career, only snorted twice or thrice at the presence of 
the monster, and dashed forward, without shying either 
to the right or left. When we arrived at the house 
where Father Fitzgerald lived, and which belonged to 
one of his own countrymen, we met the master at the 
door, who said to us in his own French : il est morn — 
meaning to convey that the poor priest was dead. 
Without stopping to inquire into his meaning, I entered 
the room, and called him by name — but there was no re- 
sponse. His eyes were fixed. I kissed him. His lips were 
icy cold. He was dead. He was only twenty-six years 
of age, far from his country and his family and friends, 
without even the consolations of religion to fortify him 
at his departure hence* Contemplating this youthful 
victim of Christian charity, my heart was ready to break; 



MISSIONARY ISOLATION. 



161 



I fell upon my knees and wept, for I could not pray. 
I deeply regretted that no friendly voice was there to 
assuage the sufferings of his last moments, or speak to 
him of that heaven which he had so justly merited. 

The contemplation of this isolation — this dreary soli- 
tude in which the poor missionary breathed his last — 
cast my soul into deep sorrow. Poor Abbe ! his grave 
will be unknown in a foreign land : never will the spot 
where he lies be hallowed by a friendly visit : no prayer 
will bless it : nor will it be ever watered by a tear. 

Oh ! who shall tell of all that passes in the heart of a 
young missionary, from the day he receives his mother's 
parting kiss to the day he heaves his last sigh in distant 
solitude ! On my knees, at the foot of that bed whereon 
the lifeless corpse was stretched, that life of devotedness, 
of labour, fatigue, and trial, unfolded itself before me as 
a vast and gloomy panorama, and all ended in death, 
sudden, unexpected, and solitary. .Notwithstanding the 
sad end of my poor friend, I envied his lot ; in his 
case there were no doubts about the future, for he died 
in the midst of labour. Then reflecting on myself, I 
bethought me of my shattered constitution and lost 
strength. I was not so old as Father Fitzgerald, but 
yet I was quite spent. Like Abbe Chanrion I looked 
upon myself as a useless being who, in a short time, 
would be less a burden to others than to myself. 

The life of a disabled missionary, when strength has 
been exhausted in the fatigues of his ministry, is a truly 
sad one, humanly speaking. It is painful to him to 
drag out an existence of dependent idleness on the 
theatre of his former labours, in the midst of his 
poor and hard-working colleagues. The hospital, and 
misery in every shape, await him in his own country. 

M 



162 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Whilst lie is engaged in preaching the truths of the 
Gospel, and civilising the people of distant countries, his 
friends either die or are dispersed here and there — 
friendships are weakened or become altogether extinct 
— he becomes in turn a stranger in his own country, but 
too happy if local or private charity places him in some 
sinecure, or shelters him from unrelieved necessities of 
life, where close by his cradle he may await the end of 
his career, drenched with gall and hidden sufferings. 
The priest who devotes himself to the foreign missions 
may say with truth, as his Divine Master : My Kingdom 
is not of this world. He knows that for him there are 
other thorns than those found in the wild woods, and 
other sorrows than those experienced on the desert 
shore. But God who takes the solitary sparrow and the 
lily of the field under his special protection, bestows on 
those who have confidence in Him something more 
precious than the bread they earn by the sweat of their 
brow— He bestows upon them faith, hope, and charity ; 
and where these Divine virtues exist there is no 
poverty, no solicitude about the morrow. Animated 
and strengthened by these, the Christian is enabled to 
brave all the tempests that rage around him. 

Kneeling by the corpse of my departed colleague, I 
saw that such would be my future lot ; I felt that I was 
not worthy to die for the glorious cause which I had 
espoused, and my tears fell in abundance. But a ray of 
Heaven's light revealed to me the sufferings of the Son of 
God in the garden of Gethsemane; and, like all rays 
from heaven, it brought peace and resignation to my 
soul. All fear left me, and I was prepared to make any 
sacrifices. I offered up fervent prayers for my poor 
friend, and spent the entire night alone with his corpse. 



PLEASANT TRAVELLING. 



163 



The next day, aided by a French priest, who came to 
Victoria, we buried our young fellow-labourer in the 
little church. The ceremony was simple and touching. 
Protestants and Catholics shed tears — a tribute of 
esteem which our departed friend had earned by bis 
virtues. 

I left Victoria in very depressed spirits. The weather 
was dark and rainy ; and we were supplied with pro- 
visions for three days only. As the rains were likely to 
continue, we thought it well to lessen the number of our 
nights under tents, so we changed our route by taking 
a more northerly direction. As one of the horses which 
we had left at Victoria, in the care of Father Fitzgerald, 
had either strayed away, or was stolen, I mounted the 
remaining one, and Charles rode in the cart. From 
town to town we changed places, Charles taking my 
place in the saddle, and I his in the cart. As the roads 
were becoming heavier as we proceeded, owing to the 
incessant rain, the mules dragged our cumbrous vehicle 
through the mud at a very slow pace and with great 
difficulty. From the first day of our journey I was 
frozen under my wet garments, and a part of my body 
had become quite stiff with rheumatism. 

Thus we struggled on for five days; at one time 
battling against the inclemency of the weather; at 
another against the obstructions of the road. We 
were not able to spend even one night in a human 
habitation ; for the state of the roads had upset all 
our previous calculations by retarding our progress. 
By dint of management we made our provisions last 
an additional day, yet we had already been fasting 
for twenty-four hours ! We encamped under our cart, 
but the rain came down in torrents through the holes 

M 2 



164 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



and chinks in the wood. While cold and want of rest 
began to throw me into fever, my fellow-traveller en- 
joyed a sound sleep, without thinking of either hunger or 
rain. There are people whose accommodating organisa- 
tion adapts itself easily to every circumstance — sleep 
comes at their bidding, and they dispense with food, if 
necessary, without appearing at all disconcerted by the 
exigencies of nature. 

At length, on the fifth day, on the right of our route, 
we arrived at a small river which struggles through 
a deep ravine. I think it is the Cibolo. On the 
opposite side was a farm-house, where we hoped to be 
able to procure a dinner. While the German was 
unyoking his mules, Charles and I descended the ravine, 
stumbling at every step. Having succeeded in reaching 
the bottom, we saw a place where the river was covered 
with pieces of dead timber and trees, which floated on the 
surface ; at every other spot it rushed down in cascades, 
as the torrents descend the Alps. Pressed by hunger, 
I made a spring, and running quickly along one of the 
floating planks, I gained the opposide side. My friend 
Charles proceeded more slowly, either through laziness, 
or because he was not so active as I was. The conse- 
quence was, that the pieces of timber sinking, and turn- 
ing under his feet, he lost his balance, and fell down 
astride of one of them. However, he succeeded at last in 
joining me, though wet from head to foot by the sudden 
plunge to which he treated himself. " Oh ! " said he, 
laughing, " a little more or a little less can't make 
much difference." During this dreary journey, my 
friend never lost that buoyancy of spirits which charac- 
terises Frenchmen, even in the most critical circum- 
stances of life. 



FRESH DELIGHTS. 



165 



A good dinner, and a blazing fire, made us forget all 
oar hardships, and we resumed our journey. The rain 
ceased for a short time. We had no idea whatever, that 
our sixth day's journey would be even more disastrous 
than the preceding. On this day we were obliged to 
cross a deep creek full of black muddy water. My horse 
sank in it up to the girths ; but, weakened as he was 
by fatigue, he had no strength left to extricate himself. 
Accordingly I was obliged to enter the pool, and drag 
the poor animal out with all my strength. It fared 
even worse with the cart, which sank so deeply in the 
mud, that the mules abandoning the task of pulling it 
through, lay down as quietly as possible in the pool, 
leaving little hope on our minds that we should be able 
to induce them to resume their work. While the driver 
plied his whip, Charles and I shoved at the wheels, but 
all in vain ; so there was nothing for it but to go in 
search of some farm-house where we might find help in 
our emergency. Fortunately, we met some Mexicans of 
the locality, who kindly came to our aid with a team of 
oxen. These being yoked to the mules' traces suc- 
ceeded in dragging them, and the cart along with them, to 
firm ground. The rain, which had ceased a short time, 
now fell without intermission; my horse stumbled or 
slipped at every step ; and the continual efforts I was 
obliged to make to keep him from falling fatigued me 
dreadfully. Besides, the roads became more imprac- 
ticable every moment, so that the cart wheels sank to 
the axles in mud in some places. 

We had hoped that all our mishaps were now over, 
and that we could find at length some convenient spot 
on which to camp for the last time. As misfortune, 
however, would have it, night came upon us in the 

M 3 



166 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



midst of the woods. The croaking of frogs indicated the 
vicinity of water ; and we found that a clearing had 
been transformed into a lake by the late rains ; along 
its borders the herbage was rich and abundant, so we 
allowed our animals to roam about and regale them- 
selves. But where were we to spend the night ? The 
road was inundated, the cart was deep in water, and 
it was quite impossible to penetrate into the wood, so 
thick were the borders and underwood. To find a 
convenient spot to camp on, it would be necessary to 
cross this sheet of water; but we were in complete 
ignorance of its depth. Accordingly, without more to 
do, our driver rolled himself up in his blanket, and 
stretched himself at full length on the boxes in the cart, 
while Charles and myself seated ourselves on our saddles, 
with our backs to a tree, and our feet in the water, and 
thus passed the night. A more terrific storm than we 
had heretofore experienced, now burst over us ; the 
thunder rolled without intermission ; flashes of lightning 
darted every instant through the heavens, while the 
forest around us was swept by a hurricane. I leave 
the reader to imagine whether I could close an eye ; 
want of sleep, cold, and hunger had again brought on 
fever. I shivered with cold, and yet a violent per- 
spiration covered my whole body ; my pulse beat with 
fearful rapidity ; strange noises buzzed in my ears ; a 
vomiting of blood reduced me to the last extremity. 
In fact, I could bear it no longer. 

' ; Charles," said I to my companion, who was half 
asleep, " if I remain here longer I shall never be able to 
leave it ; I'll continue my journey." 

" It would be madness to do any such thing," said my 
friend, opening one eye; "you are unacquainted with 



THE FEVER AND THE STORM. 



167 



the roads, and you would most certainly lose your 
way." 

" Oh ! " said I, " I have nothing worse to fear than 
what I suffer at this moment." 

Charles fell asleep again, whilst I saddled my horse, 
which was in almost as miserable a plight as his master. 
It was about one o'clock in the morning; and to escape 
the mud as much as possible, I kept to the right through 
the wood, but I had not proceeded far when it opened out 
into a prairie covered with high grass and helianthus, 
which struck against my face as I proceeded. Still on- 
ward I went, without at all reflecting upon the fault I 
had committed in leaving the beaten path ; indeed I 
thought I was skirting it, until my face and hands were 
torn by the trees and brushwood which I was obliged 
to encounter in forcing a passage. After many painful 
efforts, I arrived at last at a thick copse wood, and here 
I was brought to a stand-still. I could not move ano- 
ther step. I sought, on every side, some outlet or other, 
but with no success — the forked lightning, my only 
guide, indicated no egress. Darkness, the terrific storm, 
and illness made my head reel ; a certain dimness came 
over my eyes, a burning heat ran through my body, 
while the surface of my skin was icy cold, and all this 
was accompanied by a most disagreeable buzzing noise 
in my head. The storm continued to rage, the thun- 
der pealed with undiminished fury, the wind swept 
forest and plain, and there was I amid the storms of 
nature and my own being, alone, without a guide, with- 
out an adviser, yea, without strength to escape the tomb 
which yawned beneath my steps. All energy, both 
moral and physical, had left me. I felt that my end 

M 4 



168 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



was approaching. No human power could afford me 
any aid. 

After having exhausted all the resources of human 
courage, intelligence, and will, to rescue myself from this 
terrible position, I addressed myself to God in humble 
prayer. I cast my eyes towards heaven with one of 
those last looks in which the whole soul seems to speak. 
This mute prayer was to me like the sweet dew which 
falls on a burning atmosphere,— something indescribably 
soothing pervaded my whole being, and I felt convinced 
that God watched over me with a fostering care, and 
that if He, in His wisdom, subjected me to trials it was 
only to teach me to place less confidence in my own 
strength, and attach myself more closely to Him. A 
smile of sweet consolation played about my lips, and I 
prayed with a tender and child-like fervour that the 
will of God be accomplished with respect to me, and I 
knew well that He would not suffer me to perish thus 
all alone in the woods. Full of confidence in the 
Divine goodness, I allowed my horse to go where he 
would. The poor animal went to the left, passed 
instinctively through the underwood, and came out 
on the prairie. The reflection of a flash of lightning 
showed me the route now laid under water. After that 
I had no desire to turn aside from the beaten track, but 
rode through waves of mud with perfect composure. 
In a short time the route became somewhat more ele- 
vated, and I traversed a wood of oaks. I felt that my 
horse had found a dry and solid footing, and notwith- 
standing the fever which preyed upon me, I enjoyed a 
moment of happiness. But, alas ! how quickly it passed, 

It appeared to me that my horse was listening to 
something; he pricked up his ears, and became uneasy 



TIGERS IN THE BUSH. 



169 



and restive, he snorted violently, and at last reared, 
and refused to advance. I was unable to distinguish 
any object in the dark, and still I was satisfied that the 
poor animal was not thrown into this state of terror 
without some cause. I drew one of my pistols from 
the holster, and struck my spurs into the horse to urge 
him forward. A frightful mewing then was heard, and 
two phosphoric lights blazed at twenty paces from me ; 
the mystery was at once solved ; it was a tiger or pan- 
ther, or, perchance, a number of these animals which 
surrounded me, for my head reeled so that I fancied 
that burning eye-balls were fixed on me from every 
side. I had but a brace of pistols ; and to wound one of 
these animals would have been attended with too much 
clanger, to kill it would be impossible, owing to the 
darkness and the unsteadiness of my aim; I therefore dis- 
charged my pistol in the air. My horse, maddened 
with terror, became quite unmanageable and started off 
at full speed. I kept well in my saddle. The panthers 
slunk away to a short distance at the report of the 
pistol, but they soon returned to within a few feet of 
the route. From all this I concluded, whilst galloping 
along, that their dens had been inundated, and that I 
was in danger every instant of tumbling into some 
creek. The croaking of frogs, which was becoming 
more distinct as I proceeded, left no doubt on my mind 
as to the fact. In a few minutes I heard the splashing 
of water about the horse's legs, and I felt the cold 
seizing first my feet, and then running up my limbs at 
every stride. At last the horse sank in the water up to 
his breast, stopped suddenly, and, after that, neither 
words, nor blows, nor spurs affected him in the least. 
He seemed changed into marble, 



170 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



I waited an instant, until a flash of lightning showed 
me where I was. By its rapid light I saw before me 
a lake formed by the rains. Xo weeds floated on its 
surface, which proved to me that it was so deep that 
it would be sheer madness to attempt to cross it during 
the night. I accordingly retraced my steps, but not 
daring to return to the wood, on account of the wild 
beasts, I dismounted, and leaning my back against a 
tree, with the water up to my knees, and holding my 
pistols in my hand, I faced the panthers, which had 
again returned. I was resolved to sell my life as dearly 
as possible ; however, the panthers contented themselves 
with making a circuit around me, without approaching 
too near. Their howling all the time was most appalling. 
My poor horse was so terror-stricken that, although he 
was not tied, he remained motionless by my side the 
whole night. The electric fluid fell with a dreadful 
crash, within fifteen yards of me. It formed, as it were, 
a shower of sparks, which set fire to the scanty herbage 
of the forest. The conflagration spread ; I feared, an 
instant, that it would dislodge me from my position, and 
then roast me. Fortunately the rain came to my aid, 
and extinguished it. 

At length, this terrible night gave way before the 
sweet light of the dawn, which came to restore me to 
life, and to fling its feeble rays around me. My courage 
and buoyancy of spirits returned. I crossed the lake, 
which was a mile long — it was a good hour's work. At 
every step my horse slipped, or stuck fast in the mud, 
or stumbled and staggered like a drunken man. It was 
no wonder that I should have heaved a long sigh of 
satisfaction when the poor beast once set his foot on firm 
ground. The rain ceased, the sun seemed as if it 



A SENSITIVE HORSE. 



171 



had some idea of showing itself, the wind dispersed the 
clouds, — sun and wind dried my wet clothes. The 
route was very picturesque : on each side rose graceful 
hills, whose summits were crowned with white vapour. 
Thousands of partridges whizzed by me in their rapid 
flight ; herds of deer stood to look at me as 1 passed, 
shaking off the while the rain-drops which glistened on 
their backs. All this gladdened me. Here and there I 
had to cross small streams of water, but I had no reason 
to complain. At length the sun appeared, and with 
him heat, which I so much needed. My hands were as 
blanched and as wrinkled as the skin of a body which 
had been three days in the water. 

Towards ten o'clock in the forenoon, we arrived at a 
small river which was quite unknown to me. I thought 
it was, probably, one of those streams which had been 
formed by the late rains, and dashed into it in the 
most gallant manner — indeed, I held it rather in con- 
tempt. Now the horses of that country are gifted with 
an instinct of most astonishing acuteness in discovering 
danger, and indeed my poor beast was but too suscep- 
tible, and since our journey began, became sensitive 
to a most distressing degree. As soon as the water 
reached the saddle-girths he stopped, and refused obsti- 
nately to advance. I employed prayers and entreaties, 
I patted him on the neck and encouraged hirn in every 
way, — at length I used the whip, but without result. 
I dismounted at last, and led the poor beast by the 
bridle. After advancing a few steps, I perceived some 
nenuphar leaves on the surface of the water, but it never 
occurred to me that the stems of these leaves might be 
five or six feet long, and I proceeded boldly into the 
water with my clothes on. At the first step I was up 



172 



TEXAS A2sD MEXICO. 



to the middle in water — a debut which frightened me 
not a little, and I made accordingly a retrograde move. 
I again mounted my horse, and attempted a passage in 
other places ; but with no success — my horse would 
not move a step, as soon as the water reached his breast. 

This last obstacle, which I knew not how to surmount, 
and which ■ nevertheless, must be surmounted in one way 
or other, threw me quite into despair, although it was 
far from being the most difficult one I had met with. 
But it is the last drop which overflows the cup, and my 
courage completely abandoned me. Ingrate that I was, 
I dared complain and speak thus to the Almighty : 
" 0 my God ! this continual suffering is too much for 
me — my powers of endurance are limited — my trials 
without end. I have now paid, in devotedness, all I 
owe to humanity. I shall return to France, to leave it 
no more." I wept like a child that has some whim un- 
sratified. The next instant I smiled at the abundance 
of this bitter chalice, which I could not exhaust, and 
this little attack of folly soon passed. I stretched my- 
self on the grass to dry my clothes. Then resuming all 
my former energy, I mounted my horse and directed 
my steps towards the Cibolo. 

After an hour's ride, I overtook a cart, and what 
was my astonishment at recognising our driver and 
Charles fast asleep on the boxes ! I really fancied 
that I had come from another world, and so overjoyed 
was I at meeting my friends, that I at once roused 
them up to embrace them. 

" In the name of wonder where are you going ? " 
says Charles. 

" To France, I believe," said I, despondingly. " Out 
upon you! " replied my friend, " What an idea ! " 



A MERRY UPSET. 



173 



I then related to them all that had happened to me 
since I left them. 

" There is no creek in this neighbourhood," said our 
driver ; "it must be some deep ditch or other, which I 
shall find no difficulty in passing." " We shall soon see." 

And forgetting France, I crept upon the cart to ac- 
company them in ascertaining the fact. Having reached 
the fatal spot, our brave German undressed, entered the 
water up to his arm-pits, and reached the opposite bank 
without accident. Confounded and humbled, I ex- 
claimed against my horse's sensitiveness, and my own 
want of patience. Then we all crossed with little diffi- 
culty. My poor foundered horse was tied to the back 
of the cart, and my fellow-travellers resumed their sleep, 
which had been interrupted for the moment, and I tried 
to imitate them. In an instant or two, I was suddenly 
roused from my slumber by a terrific shock, which sent 
men, beasts, and boxes, rolling one over the other. 

The fact was, that we tumbled down a ravine which 
crossed the road, but, in our drowsiness, we had not 
perceived it. By a special intervention of Providence 
we all escaped unhurt. This little incident amused us 
very much, and we all three laughed heartily at an 
adventure which kept us awake the rest of the day. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon, the crowing 
of a cock announced the vicinity of a farm ; and in a 
few minutes afterwards we descried, through thick 
foliage of mesquites and oaks, a small house, round 
which oxen, cows, and sheep were lying. We entered, 
and a tall meagre woman asked us what we wanted. 

" A dinner, if at all possible," I replied, " for we are 
dying of hunger," 

" You shall have some in half-an-hour," said the 



174 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



good woman, "but in the meantime you may go into 
the next room, and while away the time at the piano." 

" Many thanks, Madam, but at this moment my 
teeth have far greater need of something to do than my 
fingers ; with your permission, I will amuse myself in 
grooming my horse a little." 

And then I began to rack my brain in trying to account 
for the presence of a piano in this spot. The dinner soon 
made its appearance, and was devoured in an instant. 
Having settled accounts with the good woman of the 
house, I saddled my horse, and set off again alone. I had 
hardly left the farm when a torrent of rain wetted me to 
the skin ; however, I took all in good part, as I was now 
very near the end of my journey. As I crossed the 
Salado, I thought I perceived on my route three In- 
dians, who seemed resolved to oppose my passage. Now 
I had seen too many alarming objects for the last 
twenty-four hours to be easily terrified ; so I passed on 
without flinching. The Indians were three enormous 
trunks of charred trees, surrounded by a reddish her- 
bage, and my sickly imagination represented them as 
so many giants, with black, red, and yellow stripes. At 
length, I heard the bells of San Fernando ringing the 
Angelus ; I was at San Antonio, and therefore proceeded 
in all haste to the cure's house. 

The good man gave me a glass of Alicante, which I 
drank off at once, and having wrapt a triple blanket 
around me, I fell into a profound sleep which lasted 
twenty-six hours. I awoke at last, but it was bed-time 
for every one else. Having chatted a little with the 
cure, I lay down again, and slept more soundly than 
ever. 



175 



CHAP. YIT. 

ASSASSINATIONS AT SAN ANTONIO. — THE BANGERS. A PARTY OP 

PLEASURE. A THREAT NOT FOLLOWED UP. TOO MANY GOURDS, 

AND NOT SUFFICIENT FOOD. — A WINTER NIGHT. CHRISTMAS EYE. 

HOW TO BUILD A FINE CHURCH AT A CHEAP RATE. — AN EASY 

YICTORY. DEPARTURE FROM C ASTRO YILLE. — MY FAREWELL. 

A FRIEND TURNED ENEMY. A PEDESTRIAN JOURNEY THROUGH 

THE PRAIRIES. ARRIVAL IN FRANCE. 

The next day I went to Castroville, and on my way I 
met one of my parishioners who was assassinated a few 
minutes after we parted, and the assassin stole his horse, 
which was not worth forty piastres. San Antonio was 
notorious for assassinations ; the knives of the Mexicans 
and the American revolvers were in constant use ; and 
deeds of bloodshed were of hourly occurrence. One 
day a half- drunken cavalier, armed to the teeth, entered 
a bar-room to drink a glass of brandy ; the waiter asked 
if he had money to pay for it, at which the other took 
offence and levelled his revolver to fire at him ; but 
the pistol missed fire, and the waiter seized an enormous 
knife, sprung on the cavalier, and laid his breast open 
with two ghastly wounds. He then placed the corpse 
of the murdered man on his horse, and turned it from 
the door. On another occasion a Presbyterian, on feel- 
ing a strong impulse to kill somebody or anybody, went 
to the house of his own minister, and fired at him twice, 
but fortunately the bullets only grazed his hat. As I 
was going to say Mass one morning, a Mexican who was 
sweeping at the threshold of his house, inadvertently 



17G 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



whisked the dust upon an American who was walking 
by. The American drew his knife, threw himself upon 
the poor defenceless sweeper, and gave him seventeen 
severe wounds in the head and shoulders. Such acts 
were of almost daily occurrence. 

The greater part of the murders were committed by 
the Hangers — volunteers of the American army who 
were disbanded after the treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, 
and had engaged themselves to Texas for the pursuit of 
the Indians. They are the very dregs of society, and 
the most degraded of human creatures. 

These blood-thirsty men, who have neither faith nor 
moral feeling, massacred a whole division of the Lipan 
tribe, who were quietly encamped near Castro ville : they 
slew all, neither woman nor child was spared. They 
rifled the dead bodies of their clothing, in which half 
the assassins clothed themselves, and then amused 
themselves by a sham battle. 

A colonist, who was out in search of his cattle, heard 
the report of their fire-arms, saw the mimic fight from 
a distance, and mistook it for a real attack of the 
Indians. The inhabitants of Castroville armed them- 
selves ; sent out patrols night and day, and barricaded 
the town ; but not until two days after did they 
ascertain the truth. The Eangers having become the 
scourge of the colonists were replaced by regular troops 
in 1850. It is true these troops were always insuffi- 
cient in number to protect the country, but the moral 
effect of their presence was nevertheless beneficial. 
Their camp was generally composed of one company of 
dragoons and one of infantry. These companies were 
each supposed to number sixty men, but at times there 
were not six to serve under each flag. The bad 



A BURLESQUE REVIEW. 



177 



treatment which the soldiers received caused them to 
desert, and take with them arms and baggage. 

The head quarters of the Texian army was San An- 
tonio, where I once saw a review on the Grande Place, 
in which poles were erected at intervals to regulate the 
movements. The band was composed of twelve per- 
formers ; the officers and staff were eight in number ; 
and the rank and file amounted to four men, of whom 
one was a Serjeant. The absurdity of holding such a 
review was pointed out to the general in command, and 
he has since abstained from any exhibition of the kind. 
In some camps there was a total absence of cavalry ; 
hence if it was found necessary to pursue the Indians 
they put their infantry soldiers on horseback ; but the 
greater number of them had the utmost difficulty in 
keeping in the saddle, and were totally unable to use 
their weapons while on horseback. 

On the banks of the Rio Grande, the Indians were 
once nearly taking prisoners a whole company of mounted 
infantry (as they are called). To go always well armed 
was certainly the surest protection for the colonists. 
I found a letter from the Abbe Dubuis at Castroville, 
in which he begged me to rejoin him at Braunfels, 
where he was building (or constructing) a church of 
wood. I gave the house in charge to Charles, and re- 
turned to San Antonio, where I had left my horse. To 
avoid the delavs and accidents of walking I took the 
poste, which was on this line a tolerably good vehicle, 
and to my great surprise I arrived at Braunfels without 
accident. 

I spent three days with my fellow-labourer, whom I 
aided in his work, while each related to the other 
what he had done while separated; and we mutually 

N 



178 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



formed plans for the speedy erection of our future 
church. 

On the third day the abbe came to me with a beam- 
ing face to say that he was about to procure for me a 
real party of pleasure : " It is," said he, " an excellent 
opportunity of returning to San Antonio without costing 
us a centime." I blindly accepted the offer without 
asking him further particulars as to this agreeable and 
economical arrangement. We had wound up all our 
ecclesiastical business at Braunfels by five o'clock in the 
evening, when the Abbe Dubuis told me he had still two 
baptisms to administer at a cabin on the road to San 
Antonio, three miles from Braunfels, but that he would 
go there on foot and rejoin us as we passed. I was to 
go with an Alsacian family, who had a cart loaded 
with fowls; hence I was to be borne along with the 
chickens, &c. The Abbe Dubuis started first, and a 
little before sunset I saw the cart arrive; it was a 
wretched vehicle all disjointed, and dragged along by 
a miserable horse so emaciated that he was scarcely able 
to keep on his legs. This sight made me regret the cre- 
dulity with which I had accepted the pleasant arrange- 
ment which the abbe had made for me. I found this 
opportunity very miserable, and regretted that I had not 
taken the poste ; but it was then too late, so I got on the 
cart with what resignation I could. The road was bad, 
having been torn up by the heavy rains and hardened 
suddenly by the rays of a scorching sun. The ruts had 
become hard as stone, so that each step of the horse 
caused a horrible jolt and rendered it quite unbearable ; 
so I got down and walked. When we came to a hollow 
both horse and cart stuck fast in the mud, and we were 
also obliged to get into it to pull them out. The wife 
pulled the horse, while the wheels were pushed by her 



OPPORTUNE TRAVELLING. 



179 



husband, the Alsacian, and myself. When this feat was 
accomplished I was in such a state of filth, that it would 
have taken a second tun of water to cleanse me. I con- 
tinued my walk, grumbling against the abbe's pleasant 
opportunities, which I made a promise no more to em- 
brace. The abbe, having administered the baptisms, set 
out without waiting for us. At midnight I perceived 
two objects resembling dead bodies lying across the 
road. "Who goes there?" I cried out in English. 
"A friend," responded the abbe's well-known voice. 
"Well," I asked, "what are you doing stretched there?" 
" I was sleeping while waiting for you." " I thank you 
very much for the pleasant journey which you pro- 
cured me. I have been obliged to come on foot, the 
wretched jaded horse not being able to draw me and 
the fowls along ; that is what you call a party of plea- 
sure." While listening to my complaints the abbe 
shouted with laughter, so I followed his example, as I 
could not get really angry. He had with him a German 
of immense stature, who was awaked by the noise of the 
cart. The horse was unyoked and we encamped. The 
Alsacian gave us a supper of cold meat, after which we 
fell asleep upon the ground, without any bed-covering. 
The next day we halted for breakfast at the Cibolo ; 
whence the abbe, the German, and I, afterwards continued 
our journey on foot. It was then the end of August, and 
the heat was so excessive, that we perspired from every 
pore. It was about mid-day when we arrived at San An- 
tonio ; and I was foot-sore, besides being worn out with 
fatigue. The Abbe Dubuis came to me an hour after 
to say that he had found another opportunity of going to 
Castroville free of expense ; and that he recommended 
me to embrace it with him. I thanked him warmly, 

N 2 



180 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



knowing how to appreciate what he called parties 
of pleasure, and merely said that having a horse at 
my command I should set out as soon as I had 
rested a little. At five o'clock I commenced my 
solitary journey, a little annoyed at having again to 
travel by night : but on account of our school I did 
not wish to be absent from Castroville when the Abbe 
Dubuis was not there ; so that I scarcely slept at San 
Antonio. I was overtaken in the plain by my con- 
frere, who was in a fine carriage drawn by magnificent 
horses: he passed me like lightning, making a sign to 
me to keep up with him. I galloped fast to keep 
up ; and we arrived at the creek of the Leona in a 
few minutes. There was a European doctor with the 
abbe in the carriage, and a planter from Vandenberg, 
who resembled Don Quixote de la Mancha, both in 
character and appearance. We all four supped at the 
water's edge ; and afterwards the doctor returned with 
his carriage to San Antonio, while the abbe and the 
planter watched the arrival of an Alsacian, who was to 
pass with a cart drawn by oxen. The Alsacian arrived : 
his cart was loaded with chests and sacks of Indian corn, 
and the abbe and the planter seated themselves thereon ; 
but I accompanied them on horseback. At nightfall 
they unyoked the oxen to let them graze ; and we slept 
till midnight, after a slight repast of water-melons and 
cheese. When we recommenced our journey, on the 
invitation of the abbe\ I took a place beside my com- 
panions on a chest of soap, while the bridle of my 
horse was tied to the back of the cart, which was 
made of two trees fastened upon two axles. The chests 
and sacks were heaped upon each other without any 
care, so that I not only found it difficult to find a com- 



A PLEASANT TRIP. 



181 



fortable seat, but even one that was endurable — nothing 
but sharp angles striking me in every direction, and 
nearly breaking my limbs at every jolt ; besides, I 
felt that my right leg was exposed to much too cold a 
temperature. " Why there are currents of air blowing 
through this vehicle," said I to the abbe. " No wonder," 
he replied, " for it has no bottom." I stooped down to 
discover whence this unusual cold proceeded, when a 
splash of water dashed in my face. The enigma was 
solved. There was a barrel of water near me which 
had been fastened up with straw, which had slipped 
out, and each jolt sent a little shower-bath over my leg. 
Finally we arrived at Castroville. And on the first 
Sunday after our return, we called together the colonists 
after mass, to make them promise to bring the materials 
necessary for the construction of a church, and to 
engage on our part to commence the work as soon as 
the wood and stone should arrive. 

It was summer, and the colonists were still engaged get- 
ting in their crops, so that they could not attend much 
to the stones for the church. The Abbe Dubuis profited 
by this season of forced inactivity to go to Gonzales, a 
little town of the interior where one of our colleagues 
resided, to enjoy a few days' rest, of which he was much 
in need, but which he could never obtain at Castroville, 
where he was unceasingly beset by the inhabitants. 
While awaiting his return I resumed my ordinary 
occupations ; that is to say, the teaching of the children 
of the school, and the administration of the sacraments 
in all the colonies of the mission ; eating pumpkins 
fourteen times a week, in default of other food ; never 
allowing myself to be discouraged by the trials and 
hardships of a precarious and wandering life ; doing my 

N 3 



182 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



duty with zeal, but without enthusiasm ; and accepting 
with pleasure the good or ill that it pleased Divine 
Providence to send me. During the absence of my 
confrere I was placed in one of those painful and em- 
barrassing positions in which the priest, in conformity 
with ecclesiastical discipline, is obliged to show the 
severity of the judge, when he would wish to show the 
indulgence of a friend. Thank God, I got out of it pretty 
well. A rich colonist of the Greek Church wished to 
have his child baptized in the Roman Catholic faith ; but 
the god-father and god-mother being Protestants, I had 
no security that the child would be brought up and 
educated a Catholic. I told the parents that without 
this assurance I could not baptize the child, and that 
either the god-father or god-mother must be a Roman 
Catholic. The father replied that with his gun he would 
force me to baptize his child. This answer was not 
likely to alter my resolution ; it would besides have been 
against my duty to have yielded to such coercion, and 
caused a great scandal, for my flock would certainly 
have attributed any relaxation of ecclesiastical dis- 
cipline, had I had the weakness to make it, to the high 
social position of the parents. I therefore took no 
notice of the threat, and went next day to Dhanis to 
celebrate a marriage. I travelled in company with a 
Swiss merchant, for whom I had a great regard, though 
he was a Protestant. He was going to the camp on 
business, and as I could serve his interests there, he 
offered me a place in his vehicle. When we had arrived 
at the wood of Yandenberg, we saw galloping after us 
the sheriff, who was no other than the god-father whom I 
had refused on the preceding evening. He also was going 
to Dhanis, and wished to make the journey with us for 



OUR LAST MISERIES. 



183 



further security. To prove to him that the strictness 
of my duty had nothing to do with persons beyond my 
ministry, I offered him my hand, which he accepted, 
and we all three breakfasted on the provisions which 
we had brought with us. At the camp 1 had the good 
fortune to be useful to my companions, and we went to 
Dhanis together for the celebration of the marriage. 
The sheriff was one of the witnesses. 

Unfortunately the intended bridegroom had forgotten 
to get the civil licence at Castroville, without which a 
priest or minister could not celebrate a marriage save 
at the risk of a fine of five hundred piastres, besides 
imprisonment. Not to put myself in the power of the 
law I refused to perform the marriage until the parties 
should have procured the licence. The young couple 
and their relatives were very much grieved at this delay. 
The sheriff then begged of me to perform the marriage 
ceremony, promising at the same time that he would 
take out the licence immediately on his arrival at Cas- 
troville and bring it to me himself. I consented to this 
arrangement, but not without impressing upon the 
sheriff that I thus gave a proof of great confidence in 
his sincerity and good faith. He felt gratified by this 
confidence, and was ever after my devoted friend. On 
his return the Abbe Dubuis found Charles and myself 
in a state of complete destitution ; our parishioners had 
not become more generous, we had eaten our last 
morsel of bacon, and since this sad meal we were 
entirely reduced to Indian corn and coffee. One day 
when I had nothing but a few eggs I went to the 
woods for a faggot to cook them, and knocked at door 
after door asking for a little butter to dress them and 
some meal to make a little bread. I was refused in the 



184 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



politest manner possible ; and on that day it was only 
after repeated visits that I obtained something to eat 
through the compassion of a kind old woman. The 
pumpkins of our garden were always our greatest 
resource. We dressed this insipid vegetable with all 
kinds of sauces, and used many ingenious expedients 
to try, if possible, to give it some flavour, but it had 
become so repugnant to us that it was only with a 
great effort that we could eat it at all. I had in my 
hands the money which had been collected for the con- 
struction of the church, but it was a sacred deposit 
which no one had a right to touch. 

The Abbe Dubuis wished to put an end to this miser- 
able state of things, and after the sermon on the follow- 
ing Sunday he addressed the faithful, reminding them 
of the good which we had done to the colony both 
materially and morally. — "We teach seventy-two of 
your children, and yet you give nothing, not even for 
their books, which we often furnish gratis. We are about 
to build a church which will cost you scarcely anything, 
thanks to our collections, and still you leave us to die of 
hunger. Call to mind that on one occasion I was not 
able to preach because I had had no food for forty- 
eight hours ; and that my first colleague, the Abbe 
Chazelle, died of want still more than of grief. Thus, 
since we are made up of bones and flesh and cannot 
exist without food, we give you warning that to-mor- 
row we shall quit this colony to seek a residence where 
more consideration will be shown for us, if from this 
day forward you do not provide us with the means of 
living for each mouth (and in advance), whether in 
money or in kind, and a half piastre over and above 
for each pupil attending the school— (the children of 



THREATENED DEPARTURE. 



185 



widows and of the poor we except from this rule). If 
the first instalment is not paid in before this evening, 
to-morrow you will no longer see us." The flock was 
ashamed of its avarice ; a collection was made on the 
spot ; and from that day forth we suffered no more from 
hunger. The winter came, that is to say the time to 
build a church ; the materials commenced to arrive, but 
only slowly, and they were not accumulated in sufficient 
quantity till after the feast of Christmas. Wishing to give 
this solemn festival still more brilliance than to Easter, 
I went to San Antonio to procure some cloths to orna- 
ment our little temporary church, and returned to 
Castroville the same evening. The night was so dark 
that I could scarcely see my horse's head ; a close and 
sleety rain fell, which rendered the road slippery and 
dangerous ; and my cloak was stiffened with a thick layer 
of sleet. I suffered terribly from this unusual cold. 
My hands, which were purple, could no longer hold the 
bridle, and I let my horse take his own course. The 
time that I was in the chapral appeared so long that I 
thought I had lost my way, and had I not had the fear of 
being frozen to death I should have waited the dawn of 
day under some of the trees. Calling to mind that the 
colonists had set out an hour before me with a cart full 
of provisions, I concluded that they had probably en- 
camped on the plain of the Leona, and that I should 
soon see their fires if I had not lost my way. I soon 
perceived their fires and advanced, and in order to warm 
myself I commenced to chew tobacco. It was but too 
effective, for I became hot and feverish with headache and 
giddiness accompanied by a kind of vertigo. At the 
expiration of an hour I saw a fire upon the horizon ; it 
seemed to advance by describing a circle, and to approach 



186 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



me gradually. For a moment I thought it was le cheval 
de la mort of the Indians, the poetic superstition of old 
America; then it occurred to me that it must be the fire 
in the encampment of the colonists, and that my vertigo 
gave it a circular motion. Literally speaking, when the 
fire appeared to stop I was no further from it than ten 
steps. Being then sure that I had not gone astray I ex- 
changed salutations with my parishioners and continued 
on my way. I heard the wolves howling near me in the 
plain of Castroville: my horse being terrified I made 
him gallop ; but the howlings came nearer and nearer, 
while the darkness prevented me from observing the num- 
ber of the animals by which we were thus pursued. At 
last I arrived at home and promised solemnly to travel no 
more by night. But unfortunately we were seldom able 
to choose our own hours. The church was on this occasion 
ornamented with unusual splendour, thanks to the gifts 
which I had received in Louisiana. The colonists were 
struck with astonishment and regretted that our new 
church was not yet constructed. As I was to sing the 
midnight mass on Christmas Eve I went early to bed to 
get over the effect of my night journey, but I was awaked 
at eleven o'clock by the harmonious voices of a choir of 
young men who sang a German Christmas hymn in 
compliment to me, for the 25th of December was my 
birthday. I rose to thank them, but they had already 
disappeared. The temperature had become milder ; it 
was a starlight night, and our little cottage was filled 
with colonists who came to congratulate us, bringing us 
at the same time cakes and pork. In the midst of the 
hearty gaiety which was about me, I could scarcely 
shake off a vague sadness by which I was oppressed. 
Already had four years passed away since this fete had 



ELECTRIFIED AND STIFLED. 



187 



been a family festival ; and my imagination bore me back 
to other times when friends and parental caresses were 
not absent at this holy season. Alas ! life seems to be 
but a perpetual farewell to men and things. 

I shook off these obtrusive thoughts as a cum- 
brous garment, and proceeded to the church, where I 
had prepared a treat for my parishioners. While 
dressing, and without being seen by any one, I lighted 
a flame of red Bengal fire, which was concealed behind 
a basket of flowers. I had on a vestment of cloth of 
gold, and at the moment when I gave out the Te 
Deum the flame suddenly illuminated the church like 
an Aurora Borealis ; the gold, the crystals, the chan- 
deliers, the hangings, the flowers, w r ere all dazzling. The 
congregation seemed electrified ; the sacred hymn was 
chaunted with redoubled zeal and energy ; but the 
proverb says, " there's no fire without smoke," and that 
had not entered into my calculation. With the flame 
rose clouds of smoke, which soon nearly suffocated us, 
and the whole congregation coughed in a frightful 
manner for nearly five minutes ; fortunately our church 
had openings in all directions and the smoke cleared off 
easily. After the festival of Christmas, we were able to 
commence the foundations of our new church. The 
architecture was to be in the Gothic style, and the build- 
ing large enough to accommodate the entire population. 
But our means were much more circumscribed than 
our projects ; we were in want of machinery ; it was 
impossible to find a single pulley in the whole colony ; 
hence we were compelled to lift stones and beams of tim- 
ber with the sole force of our arms. Against the wages 
of masons and carpenters, we had not two thousand 
francs ; and not being able to surmount this obstacle, we 



188 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



resolved to get round it. The Abbe Dubuis decided 
upon our doing ourselves the greater part of the 
carpenter's work, under the direction of the carpenters, 
who would only be our instructors, and we their pupils ; 
they had but to mark on the felled trees what we should 
cut or saw; and thus we spared their work as much 
as possible. In economising our funds the Abbe Dubuis 
was very clever ; and by his contrivances, intelligence, 
and economy, we succeeded in reducing our expenses 
in extraordinary proportions. It was not enough that 
our construction should be fine, it must also be solid 
— the greater part being of stone. Meantime the wages 
of a stone cutter for a great number of days would 
have swallowed up an immense sum. Hence we went 
to the woods in search of stones ready cut, and found 
near the surface quite a quarry of stones smoothed and 
squared, measuring from eight to ten inches in thick- 
ness and of different sizes. Some that were ten feet 
long by four feet wide served as steps for the stairs, 
others not so large were used for the basements and 
the windows. 

In the absence of machines to poise these unusual 
weights, recourse was had to the simplest and most 
ingenious plans. When the cart was drawn by the 
oxen as near as possible to the large masses of stone, 
we took off the wheels and the body of the cart fell 
to the ground ; then being provided with oak levers, 
we pushed the blocks of stone on wooden rollers into the 
cart. This task accomplished, we went together to one of 
the axles to lift it and place a stone underneath ; then we 
went round to the other to perform the same operation ; 
afterwards we returned to the first to raise it still further 
and place a second stone under it ; and so on, until we 



NECESSITY THE MOTHER OF INVENTION. 189 



had the axles at the necessary height. It was then 
easy to replace the wheels and proceed to the town. 
A greenish grey stone which was easy to cut answered 
for the carving of an escutcheon and crosses to orna- 
ment the top of the portal. To procure lime, we went at 
the head of eight or ten colonists to a limestone quarry, 
where it was easy to get plenty of stones. We made a 
heap of brambles and dead wood, and placed upon it a 
layer of limestones, then piled on branches and wood so as 
to form a sort of pyramid, set fire to the wood, and 
went away. We returned three days after, and found 
nearly eighty barrels of excellent lime. The sand we 
took from the river ; but it was more difficult to get 
building-timber. 

In this country, where the north winds prevail, few 
large trees of hard wood are quite straight; plenty 
could have been found on the banks of the Medina, 
but they were private property, and had a certain 
pecuniary value. Scarcely any remained which were 
not private property, and those few the colonists cut 
down to make boards which they sold at San Antonio. 
We were obliged to go and search the woods ; where 
we found eight enormous oaks, thirty feet high, per- 
fectly straight, and admirably suited to our pur- 
poses. They were felled, and placed on the carts in 
the same manner as the blocks of stone, and were 
intended for the pillars and supports of the roof of 
the middle nave. Several fine mesquites served for the 
wood-work of the windows. Mesquite wood resembles 
mahogany, and is as hard as stone. The colonists who 
had leisure undertook to supply us with the necessary 
materials for the rafters, for covering in the three naves, 
and for the steeple. These preparations concluded, it 



190 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



was necessary to commence operations ; and accordingly 
the Abbe Dubuis and I set to work with saw and hatchet 
like real carpenters. I was not very handy at this work ; 
and even when I laid aside the saw and axe to use the 
hammer and chisel, to carve the cross and scutcheon 
on the stone for the front, my hands became covered 
with blisters, and were so painful that I was obliged to 
desist ; the Abbe Dubuis was on the contrary quite 
indefatigable. 

We taught the children only from the morning till 
twelve at noon : and although teaching was not congenial 
tome, I much preferred it to carpenter's work and stone- 
cutting ; so I took my fellow-labourer's place at the 
school, while he replaced me at the works. Thus, I 
carved and sawed in the afternoon only, which suited 
me much better and tended to forward the works ; for 
the Abbe Dubuis got on with them much more cleverly 
than I. Nothing tired him : he rested while going 
hither and thither in search of everything that could be 
serviceable to our undertaking. We perceived one day 
that we were in want of beams for the wood-work of the 
steeple; the Abbe hunted about until he found some 
pine trees on neutral ground by the banks of the 
river ; he hesitated not to plunge to the waist in the 
river in order to cut these trees at the root ; this work 
took an entire day in the month of January. I 
cannot imagine how he got through it without taking 
cold at least. One day as I was busy rounding little 
deal boards with a knife, and cutting them into scales 
to cover the roof of the steeple (or tower), a little ad- 
venture obliged me to be somewhat energetic. One 
of our colonists who had never entered a church, but 
had lived in a state of perpetual intoxication, and been 
a shame and scandal to the colony, died drunk at mid- 



FIRMNESS CONQUERS. 



191 



day in the street. I refused to be present at his 
funeral, whether as priest, or as a simple inhabitant 
of Castroville. This refusal was a necessary example, 
for the least weakness shown in the performance of the 
duties of the priest, the slightest relaxation of the just 
and salutary strictness of the church, would place the 
missionary at the mercy of the first comer. In this 
country, where the laws do not suffice for individual 
protection, if evil-doers think they can by any means 
overcome your resistance without much risk to them- 
selves, you are lost. So when the relatives of the 
deceased imperatively demanded my presence at the 
funeral, I peremptorily declined. " If you won't bury 
him with good will, we'll make you do so by force." 
I then quietly took off my soutane, and said, " Now you 
no longer have to deal with a priest, but with a French- 
man who knows how to make his dwelling respected, 
and who, should you unfortunately attack with fire- 
arms, has a brace of pistols to reply to yours." " We 
shall see," said they. " Yes, we shall see," I replied, and 
recommenced my work ; having several -thousand little 
boards to arrange for the steeple, I had no desire to lose 
time. They returned in half an hour, four in number, 
with guns and pistols, determined, if not to kill, at least to 
terrify me. On seeing them coming, I seized my pistols, 
which were not loaded, opened the door, and aimed my in- 
offensive weapons at the breasts of the two foremost. 
" Advance not," said I, " or I fire ; " they paused imme- 
diately, awed by my attitude, or perhaps believing in a 
real danger. " If the young priest says he will fire, be 
certain that he will do so," said one to his companions. 
This remark caused them to retreat, and I returned 
to my boards. 



192 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



The necessity of self-defence explains why all go 
more or less armed in the western part of Texas ; it is 
also necessary that the arms should be distinctly seen, 
otherwise you risk being insulted by drunken rioters, a 
numerous and formidable party in that country. 

The construction of the church advanced rapidly ; 
the walls were built ; the masons worked at the steeple ; 
and, without waiting for its completion, we put up the 
eight pillars intended for the middle nave, a difficult 
task ; for it was not only necessary to raise enormous 
oaks to a perpendicular position, but also to place them, 
without pulleys or machinery, on bases of stone two 
feet high. Fortunately the town contained many 
inhabitants of Herculean strength ; these we called 
together, and with their stalwart arms in the course of 
one day they placed the eight pillars without accident 
on their pedestals. The rapid progress of our works 
excited the curiosity and interest of the colonists, who 
often gathered together in numerous groups to admire 
the new edifice, and, while there, and animated by our 
example, they lent us a helping hand so long as they 
could be made useful to us. The children of the school 
undertook the preparation of the mortar, and went 
in the afternoons to the river to fetch the water and 
sand for it. The Abbe Dubuis was one day mixing the 
mortar, being dressed in a red flannel shirr, trowsers 
of blue cotton, a hat without form or colour, and 
his entire person bespattered with lime and plaster, 
when a young Irish merchant named Thomas Dwyer, 
in passing through Castroville, asked him where was 
the Abbe Dubuis? The Abbe went to a pool of water, 
rapidly washed his face, and cried out, " Here he is ; 
what do you want him for ? " " Ah ! " replied the 



TOILS RATHER THAN DEBT. 



193 



young man, laughing, " how could I recognise you with 
your face all besmeared, and your many-coloured 
garments." And in his character of Irishman, that is 
to say, of pious and generous Catholic, he gave ten 
piastres for our church ; but, notwithstanding those ten 
unexpected piastres, our purse grew low in proportion 
to the elevation of our building. For economy, the 
abbe and I were obliged to work without hired labour, 
and by ourselves we did the greater part of the roofing 
and windows. Sometimes, when we could not do 
without a workman, we were obliged to give him a pair 
of boots or shoes, a shirt, or some other garment as 
payment. I sold my famed fifteen-franc horse, which 
had been for several months in the woods, and the price 
of him paid the workmen for some days. Thus we 
succeeded in finishing our church in about three months 
without getting into debt, which was almost a miracle 
in the United States, where charitable subscriptions 
are as illusory as they are numerous. In order to hide 
the rafters of the interior of the roof, I covered them 
with manta (a very strong unbleached cotton), and 
painted Gothic designs upon it. The effect was beauti- 
ful ; and to crown our good fortune, we found, a little 
later at Galveston, some painted glass, representing 
the history of St. Louis, and portraits of some of the 
princes of the house of Bourbon ; these fitted our 
windows admirably, and as our church was dedicated to 
St. Louis, we could not have found anything to suit us 
better. 

Easter-day, 1850, came at last ; it was the fifth that 
we had spent far away from France. Our church, 
which was quite finished, appeared in all its beauty, 
and in it we celebrated, with great solemnity, the holy 

o 



194 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



sacrifice of the mass. This was a great event for all 
the surrounding country. The church had cost us 
about 130Z., and it was certainly worth more than 1600/. 
The smallness of the cost surprised every one, both at 
San Antonio and at Castroville. People came from 
curiosity to see it, and they could not at all comprehend 
how it could be so large and so handsome for so small a 
sum. This great success surpassed our most sanguine 
expectations; but the efforts necessary to ensure it had 
worn us out ; continual journeys, fatigues, and priva- 
tions of every sort, with poor and insufficient food, had 
much impaired our health, and the construction of our 
church ruined it. We spat blood. My coadjutor, who 
was older, more robust, and inured to hardship, suffered 
less than I, and could even still work; but I had constant, 
acute rheumatism, and an increasing, racking cough. 
I could not kneel for five minutes without fainting, and 
constantly recurring nervous spasms rendered it impos- 
sible for me to say mass every day. Hence to avoid fall- 
ing into a state of incurable lassitude, dragging on a 
sickly and burthensome body, as was the case of the 
poor Abbe Chanrion, we both resolved to return to 
France, to seek repose and health in our native air. It 
was not easily done, for we were without money ; but, 
after all, it is not more difficult to travel without 
money, than to build a church under similar circum- 
stances, so we dispensed with it, and had now only to 
ask the Bishop's consent, but of that we considered 
ourselves sure. We put off our departure, however, till 
the week after the Easter holidays, as it was necessary 
for me to go to San Antonio to confess the Germans 
and Alsacians in the town and neighbourhood, and 
to administer to them the Easter communion. I also 



THE ADIEU. 



195 



wished to sell a few things which I still possessed, in 
order to make some little provision for the journey, 
while waiting for the Abbe Dubuis. My preparations 
were soon made, and I bade adieu to this colony, where 
I had borne many trials, and sometimes shed tears in 
secret ; but where I had also felt joy and consolation at 
the sight of the good of which I had been instrumental. 
This good was not religious and moral only, it was 
also material and tangible. We had induced Charles to 
establish a warehouse at Castroville, for the sale of all 
sorts of merchandise and utensils used by the colonists, 
who hitherto had had to go to San Antonio for every- 
thing, and to pay much higher prices. The build- 
ing of the church proved to the colonists that they 
could replace their miserable huts by good solid houses 
of wood and stone, at a trifling cost. This example 
so impressed them, that land in the neighbourhood 
became threefold more valuable, and as they all were 
proprietors of a good extent of land, they became 
comparatively wealthy. Our theoretical knowledge 
and advice on agriculture had also proved very useful. 
Indian corn was better cultivated, every stalk bearing 
two or three heads, each of which contained from 800 
to 1,400 grains, which was a return of two or three 
thousand for one. In the furrows they raised melons 
and water-melons, which sold at San Antonio for 5d. 
each ; and they commenced to sow wheat, which suc- 
ceeded well, besides raising a great variety of vegeta- 
bles equally useful and productive. On the other hand, 
their efforts to grow the vine had proved unsuccessful, 
the great drought causing it to perish ; but grafts of 
the European vine upon the native plant had succeeded 
satisfactorily. Joy and confidence animated the inhabi- 

o 2 



196 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



tants, who saw their own prosperity increase while 
their colony throve and extended. 

When quitting my poor little cabin, into which the 
wind and rain entered, where weeds grew and insects 
crawled, sighs of regret burst from my heart, and I 
vainly tried to restrain my tears, while taking a last 
look at my suspended hammock, on which I had so often 
slept beneath a starry sky. I thought how dear to me 
had beeu those hours of silence, repose, and obscurity. 
Memory brought back the balmy breeze laden with the 
fresh odours of the forest trees, as it had often cooled 
my fevered brow, and the plaintive voice of the bird of 
Paradise, or, as it is called by the inhabitants, the widow 
bird, whose melancholy cry is heard above the murmurs 
of the river and the forest trees. While taking a last 
farewell of the lonely grave of the Abbe Chazelle, and 
kneeling upon the violets and mignionette which grew 
upon and embalmed it, I wept like a child at the 
thought that my hands should no longer tend, nor my 
lips pour out their most fervent prayers beside it. It 
was not without regret that I quitted those scenes of 
nature so bold, so luxuriant in tropical vegetation, 
where I had witnessed scenes and incidents so various, 
and felt such different emotions, sentiments, and 
thoughts follow each other in rapid succession ; where 
every year seemed to me to have had the duration of a 
hundred, so fully had my days, hours, and minutes 
been occupied. I even bade adieu to the domestic 
animals about me, those honest companions of daily life; 
and with a full heart, looking a fond and sad farewell 
upon all surrounding and familiar objects, I mounted 
my horse, and proceeded slowly on my journey, stopping 
from time to time at those scenes or objects which 



DEPARTURE FROM C ASTRO VILLE. 



197 



recalled past actions, thoughts, or feelings. For the last 
time I crossed the little river Medina, which was full of 
variety with its graceful windings and rapids, now rush- 
ing turbulently over a bed of rocks, and again flowing 
smoothly and innocently under a dome of verdure. I 
hailed again those vast plains and the roebucks which 
gambolled and disported there ; and verily do I believe 
that I even regretted the rattlesnakes which had so 
often terrified me. I had become a regular child of the 
woods and plains, had taken up the habits of a wander- 
ing life in the new world, and become accustomed to 
this hard-worked and laborious existence. I was no 
longer a man of European habits or society, and France 
was about to appear to me as a country over-civilised, 
too monotonous and prosaic, and foreign to my tastes, 
which had become rather wild. It would seem as 
though one half of man's life was passed in regretting 
the other. Nevertheless my heart beat violently when 
I thought of my country, my family, and friends. 

After some days the Abbe Dubuis rejoined me at 
Castroville, but not without having again risked his 
life. A mason of Castroville had asked a young girl 
in marriage, but had been refused because she was 
engaged to be married to another. The mason told 
the abbe that he would kill him and me also, if he 
celebrated the marriage between his rival and the girl. 
It was useless for the abbe to point out to him that we 
had not the regulation of affairs of the heart, and that 
we could not refuse our ministry to those who asked it, 
where no lawful impediment existed — he would not 
listen to any reasoning. The marriage was celebrated 
notwithstanding, and the Abbe Dubuis set out for San 
Antonio the following morning, accompanied by a few 



198 



TEXAS AND MEXICO, 



armed colonists. On the opposite shore, at the ford of the 
Medina, he saw the mason armed to the teeth, and 
ready to fire upon the first who should advance ; so to 
prevent accident, he and his companions resolved to 
cross the river at another point. The mason under- 
stood this manoeuvre, and galloped off towards a part of 
the road which the abbe was obliged to pass. The 
colonists wished to accompany him to San Antonio, but 
he sent them back at the end of fifteen miles, either 
fearing a murderous collision, or thinking their aid of no 
use. Nevertheless he looked anxiously into every thicket 
and clump of trees, and when he had arrived at the 
rancho of the Leona, it occurred to him that the thicket 
and underwood which bordered this little creek were 
favourable to the criminal projects of his enemy, and he 
prudently crossed it at full gallop. He had rightly 
guessed, for the mason was in the wood, but did not 
expect the abbe so soon, and suddenly seeing him pass 
so rapidly, he had not time to take aim. While dis- 
mounting from his horse at San Antonio, the abbe 
cried out to me, " Do not stir out, or you are a dead 
man ! " 

" Ha ! what is the matter now ? " I anxiously en- 
quired. 

"The matter is, that your friend the mason — the 
same that I had heard singing a few days after my 
arrival at San Antonio — wishes to kill you, and that I 
barely escaped with my life." 

The abbe related to me his adventure ; so we pru- 
dently kept within doors at night, and went out by day 
only when obliged to do so. Having but little money, 
we were forced to go to Lavaca on foot while two 
Mexicans undertook the transport of our boxes and 



A HARMLESS UPSET. 



199 



provisions on their heavy carts, for a few piastres. A 
young Frenchman who was returning to France joined 
our party, and was delighted with the free and adven- 
turous life which we were about to lead — it had at least 
for him all the charms of novelty and variety. 

I knew by experience how painful and fatiguing the 
inclemency of the weather, the sand, and bad roads ren- 
dered this kind of journey. I was a bad walker, and 
dreaded having to go a hundred leagues on foot under a 
sky which seemed on fire even in the month of March ; 
but to the Abbe Dubuis all this seemed a trifle. We en- 
camped the first day on the skirts of a wood where were 
many pools of water covered with wild ducks, of which I 
killed five at one shot. Our Mexicans had taken the pre- 
caution to bring a pot, and we all did our best towards 
the preparation of dinner, one taking care to keep up 
the fire and another to pluck the ducks, while the cook- 
ing fell to my lot. We made an excellent dinner, which, 
in conjunction with the good humour and gaiety of my 
companions, soon enabled me to forget the fatigues of the 
day. On the following day we had to cross the creek of 
the Calavera, which flows through a deep and steep 
ravine. Our tired compatriot remained lying on one of 
the carts. Having ourselves arrived at the opposite side 
the abbe and 1 looked with anxiety towards the oxen 
as they mounted the ascent with considerable difficulty ; 
but suddenly the bolt which held the pole broke, and 
the cart was precipitated into the ravine; while the 
oxen continued their journey as if nothing had hap- 
pened. Our fellow countryman who was lying on the 
trunks was somewhat startled, but escaped unhurt. 
We now encamped near San Antonio, where our Mexi- 
cans made fishing-lines, with what I know not, nor how, 



200 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



but they caught three enormous fish ; and thus we had 
both abundance and variety for our repast. 

On the fifth morning, at sunrise, we found ourselves 
in a magnificent wood of fragrant cedars. The air was 
pure and fresh, and the abbe and I, as was our usual 
habit, entered into meditation while walking along 1 . I 

7 o o 

saw a little bird which was unable to fly hop out from 
the brambles; I caught it without any difficulty, and 
showed it to the Abbe Dubuis, who examined it and 
found an excrescence of hard skin growing upon the 
tongue, so that it could not eat. Not having a pin at 
hand, the abbe took a thorn and very cleverly removed 
the excrescence, made the little bird swallow a few drops 
of water, and then set it at liberty. Feeling itself imme- 
diately relieved, it fluttered about the wood, sending forth 
little notes of thanks and contentment. On the sixth 
day, which was Saturday, we had to cross a great plain 
on which were neither trees nor brambles ; so before en- 
tering upon it, we were obliged to gather firewood for 
our evening's encampment. Our provision of blocks 
being nearly exhausted, our good humour somewhat 
worn out, the distance we had to traverse seemed to us a 
terrible length. Besides we were in want of water, and 
had nothing for supper but a box of Sardines, and some 
cheese instead of bread. As I was about to lie down to 
sleep upon the grass, the abbe said to me, " Smoke a 
pipe, it will take away your thirst, and let us chat 
awhile." But not approving of this kind of refreshment, 
I went to sleep. At one o'clock the abbe awaked me, 
saying, " Let us now set out, so that we may be able to 
say mass at an early hour." " Why, what is the matter 
with you ? " said I, " you are like the Wandering Jew ; 
you never can remain quiet ; we have scarcely arrived, and 
yet you already wish to set out again." u Xo, my dear 



TEXIAN RIVERS. 



201 



fellow, you deceive yourself, you have slept at least three 
hours, it is now one o'clock in the morning ; we have 
still a journey of ten leagues to make before we reach 
Victoria, and as we are hungry and very ill-dressed, it 
is desirable that we should arrive before the usual hour 
of the services.' 5 I yielded to these reasons, and we 
were soon on our way ; and after walking for two hours, 
we reached the wood which runs along the Coleto. This 
wood seems as though planted in sand, in which we sank 
knee-deep, which increased our fatigue extremely. Soon 
after we came in sight of the Coleto, whose width was 
alarming, and 1 feared that it was proportionately deep. 
As the abbe could swim he entered first, but the water 
scarcely covered his knees. The rivers of Texas deceive 
one much ; for in looking at a map, it would seem to be 
one of the best watered countries in the world, while it 
is on the contrary one of the driest. I found the water 
very cold, and my feet were cut by the shingles. With 
the first light of day, we entered the plain which borders 
Victoria ; the prairie birds, of low and heavy flight, 
were roused at our approach and uttered a strange cry : 
these were the only living things that we saw. We 
arrived at the forest of the Colorado at six in the morn- 
ing, and met some American waggons, whose drivers 
seemed much astonished at seeing two Catholic priests 
at such an hour travelling on foot in these regions. 

We crossed the Colorado in a boat, and were in a few 
minutes at the chapel of Victoria, where we celebrated 
mass. The parish priest was our countryman who had 
come to see us at Castroville, and accompanied me to 
Braunfels. We spent the day with him, and in the 
evening the abbe and I w r ent to rejoin the Mexicans and 
our baggage on the plain of Lavaca. 

On leaving Victoria we found three roads before us, 



202 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



and were puzzled which to choose, for the wind blew with 
such violence that it swept away all traces of wheels ; 
at all risks we followed one of these roads, and after an 
hour's journey we descended into a valley which was 
quite sheltered from the wind, and furrowed with 
numerous wheel-marks, but our waggons were not 
there. We concluded that we had mistaken our 
way, and cut across the fields in search of our fellow- 
travellers. Night falls, a fire blazes in the distance, we 
hasten towards it, and find our countryman and the 
Mexicans busily employed making a fricassee of some 
prairie fowls which they had just killed. It was our last 
night for sleeping on the plain, and this idea heightened 
our good humour. Pipes were lighted, conversation 
became animated, we wrapped our cloaks about us, 
looked up to the heavens, and sang in concert such, as 
memory recalled of the hymns and melodies which had 
been familiar to us in childhood. At two o'clock in the 
morning we ceased singing, and rose to continue our 
journey ; but what was our surprise on finding that we 
were surrounded by Americans, Irishmen, and Mexicans, 
who had drawn near to hear us sing ; behind them we 
saw a regular troop of horses and oxen, forming a 
circle round us, having also no doubt been attracted by 
our singing. I then learned that we had encamped near 
a pool of water, where the drivers generally rested and 
watered their animals. About ten o'clock in the 
morning we reached another pool of water — dark, 
muddy, and infectious ; it was called chocolate, doubtless 
on account of its colour. This was also a frequent 
place of encampment. We halted here, and made our 
coffee of the bad water, and were also obliged to sprinkle 
our cheese with it — a little piece of cheese being all that 
remained of our stock. I had seldom made a more un- 



CAMP MEETING ON BOARD. 



203 



palatable meal, though jokes and puns were not wanting. 
Nevertheless we supped at Lavaca that evening, and 
sailed for Galveston on the following morning. 

Our bishop would not consent to lose two missionaries 
at the same time ; for he wanted priests now more than 
ever, several having died, and the cholera had just swept 
off another at Indian Point. He, however, gave one of 
us permission to return home, and the other a little 
time to rest and recruit his health. As I was the most 
seriously ill, the youngest and least necessary, and also 
because family affairs recalled me to Europe, and as 
I promised soon to return, the Abbe Dubuis con- 
sented to remain, and went to New Orleans to collect 
a little money with which to purchase a bell worthy of 
our new church. The worthy good bishop, who had 
only twenty-five piastres, gave me fifteen of them, with 
the addition of a bill of two hundred francs for my 
journey. Poor bishop ! he himself had to make a 
journey into the interior of Texas, yet he deprived him- 
self of necessaries in order to enable one of his priests 
to return and seek in his native land that health which 
he had lost on a foreign mission. I proceeded to New 
Orleans and received help from my brethren there ; 
whence I w r ent up the Mississippi as far as Cairo, whence 
I ascended the Ohio to Cincinnati, and crossed Lake 
Erie in company with 600 methodists of every age and 
sex. They were returning from a camp meeting, and 
continued their preaching and religious exercises on 
board the steamer. I visited the grand and beautiful 
falls of Niagara, to which justice has never been done by 
any painter — indeed it would be impossible to represent 
them faithfully. I set foot on the Canadian shore ; and 
soon after I embarked at New York for England, where 
we arrived at Southampton after a passage of fourteen 



201 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



days. I saw London for the first time, but feeling no 
desire to remain there, I re-embarked and hailed the 
shores of France the same evening. With what ecstaey 
I landed at Boulogne, and felt that my foot pressed once 
more my dear native land ! I had to restrain myself or I 
would have embraced the gendarmes and custom-house 
officers, for they were the first Frenchmen that I met. 
I passed some hours with a family to whose care and 
kindness I had been recommended; and they received 
me in the most friendly way, loading me with delicate 
and thoughtful attentions. I was deeply moved at re- 
ceiving unexpectedly such frank and cordial hospitality. 
France is the country where taste, politeness, and all 
the qualities of the heart, reach their culminating point. 
I wondered at hearing every one speak French, for my 
mother tongue had almost become a foreign language to 
my ears. I arrived at Lyons two days afterwards, and 
it was just ten o'clock in the evening when I knocked 
at my mother's door. How my heart beat ! " Who is 
there ?" " It is I." " It is my Emmanuel ! " We fell 
into each other's arms and wept tears of joy — a mother's 
caresses are sweet at any age. I presented myself to 
my relations and friends the following day, but I was 
obliged to tell them my name, and to assure them of 
my identity before they could be persuaded to recognise 
in the hollow-cheeked, wrinkled, sun-burnt, wan and 
haggard being that stood before them, the young 
man who had been tolerably well-looking, hearty and 
strong, when he left them. My mother's heart alone 
recognised me. 

END OF THE FIRST JOURNEY. 



SECOND JOURNEY. 
CHAPTER I. 

A VISIT TO THE HOLY FATHER. RETURN TO AMERICA. — A RATH ICR 

DIVERSIFIED VOYAGE. DESCRIPTIONS OF AND IMPRESSIONS THERE- 
UPON. SERMONS ON BOARD. — AN IMAGINARY SHIPWRECK. THE 

BRAZOS. ISABELLA POINT. — BROWNSVILLE. NEW MUNICIPAL 

STREET-CUTTING REGULATIONS. — OPINION OF MY PARISHIONERS 
ABOUT THE MISSIONARIES. 

After a sojourn of three weeks at Lyons, I set out to 
see the Holy Father at Rome, to talk to him about my 
mission, and to present to him a pair of beautiful mo- 
cassins embroidered by our Indians. My entire worldly 
possession was a purse containing five francs, and the 
permission of the minister of marine to sail gratis in the 
government vessels. I reached Toulon on the 14th of 
October; and after traversing part of the South of France, 
sometimes a-foot, sometimes en diligence, as my means and 
necessity dictated, I embarked on the 15th, in the Veloce, 
with several infantry officers who accompanied a detach- 
ment of soldiers to Rome. The weather was fine, the 
sea calm, the voyage a charming one. 

During the evening, by moonlight, I mixed among 
the soldiers, with whom I chatted a long time with no 
little amusement and cordial feeling. Arrived at Civita 
Yecchia I had the five francs in my pocket, but this was 
not quite enough to pay my way to Rome ; and expe- 
rience had already taught me that it is a far more diffi- 



206 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



cult business to travel without money in a civilised 
than in a barbarian country. Still I did not lose heart 
at a trifle of this kind, but made up my mind to go to 
Rome on foot, by daily marches, like the soldiers. 

In the eternal city, in vain I sought gratuitous 
hospitality. I put myself entirely into the hands 
of Providence for the payment of my expenses, and I 
asked an audience of the Holy Father, who at once 
acceded to my request. 

I was very poorly clad, but at the Vatican a man is 
not judged by his dress. His Holiness received me with 
his accustomed benevolence. He would not have me 
kiss his toe, but gave me his hand. During my life I 
had never seen features so full of sympathy, so kind, or 
so venerable. Our conversation was a long one, and 
turned naturally on the missions, on the Indians in 
general, and on my own affairs in particular. I briefly 
told my adventures, and the Holy Father replied, " I 
see, dear child, that you are inured to misery." 

" So much so," I replied, " that even in Rome it quits 
me not." 

"How so?" 

I then frankly avowed my pecuniary embarrassments, 
for my five francs had totally disappeared. His Holi- 
ness smiled, and seeing my confidence in God, said to 
me, " Since you travel on the business of Providence, His 
vicar shall pay your travelling expenses." And suit- 
ing the action to the word, His Holiness gave me a 
handful of gold. On my side I took out of my pocket 
the mocassins, which were folded in a morsel of torn 
paper, and presented them to the Holy Father, who ex- 
amined the embroidery, and praised the ingenuity of 
the Indians. The noble simplicity and affecting bene- 



TAMEKESS OF CIVILISATION. 



207 



volence of Pope Pius IX. are too well known for me to 
dwell on this tete-a-tete, the remembrance of which is 
still to me a sweet consolation. 

On the 1st of November I left Italy for France, which 
I traversed in all directions. The revolution of February 
had alarmed men's minds, and shut up their purses, so 
that 1 had almost completely failed in my enterprise 
to put together some money for our poor and interest- 
ing mission of Texas. I was more successful, however, 
in my search for young priests ready to share our 
labours and trials ; but the majority of them were poor, 
and their zeal ineffectual, as they could not pay their 
way to Texas. My health was still but very indifferent, 
my strength being very slow in returning ; however, 
the distant lands, where I had run so many risks and 
supported so much fatigue, retained their attraction for 
my eyes. In the solitude of the new world I had con- 
tracted the habit of living constantly at danger's door ; 
the grand scenes of nature, the deep emotions of the 
heart, had become for me wants of imperious necessity. 
Europe with its narrow prejudices, its niggard selfish- 
ness, and its dull bourgeoisie, appeared to me uninha- 
bitable. 

Every day I missed an illusion which made my 
heart at twenty-five buoyant with joy. Seeing the 
world at a nearer view and with more enlarged and 
less home-made ideas, I discovered in it every moment 
miseries and wounds, moral and physical, at which I 
recoiled. On the other hand the missions had no longer 
for me the charm of novelty which might at least coun- 
terpoise the bitterness of the trials to come. I knew 
how poignant sufferings and isolation are in these coun- 
tries ; and what strength and energy must be called 



208 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



forth to keep one's self constantly united to God, and 
not to halt and stop short half way, fatigued and heart- 
fallen. Still I could not think of those poor colonists of 
Texas, with whom I had lived three years, whom I had 
directed by exhortations, enlightened and supported by 
the aids of religion, and to whom conscience whispered 
to me that I had been of service according to the mea- 
sure of my strength, — I could not, I say, think of them 
without feeling a powerful desire to go and rejoin them 
at the earliest opportunity, in order to accomplish a 
task which I regarded as sacred. Hence I made up my 
mind to depart once more, and accordingly I left France 
on the 7th of March, 1851. My departure was a mourn- 
ful one ; the voyage was fated to prove a chapter of 
accidents. 

I was on board the Franklin, which was about to 
make her first or second trip. We first called at Cowes, 
where we expected a visit from the Queen of England, 
who was anxious to see this beautiful vessel, and the next 
morning we were sailing on the " ocean wave." The 
wind whistled shrill and violent through the rigging ; 
the waves, mountain high, buffeted us in such a manner 
that it was impossible either to sit or stand ; and sud- 
denly the storm gives way to a tempest. The billows 
break over the deck, and sweep clean away whatever 
they encounter ; the masts crash ; the paddles of the 
wheels are broken to pieces ; the forecastle falls in. 
Every aperture on deck is carefully closed, yet we have 
fourteen feet of water in the hold ! All along I con- 
tinued to read in my overflooded cabin, while I heard 
above the din of the tempest, the oaths of the seamen, 
the cries, the prayers, or the wailings of the passengers. 
During the forty- eight hours that this tempest raged, I 
felt as if every moment would be my last. 



YANKEE BOAT RACE. 



209 



On the seventh day of our voyage, the wind abated 
somewhat, and I ventured on deck. It was covered 
over with ice, and immense icicles of dazzling bril- 
liance hung from the spars and the paddle-box. The 
carpenter of the Franklin, suspended over the deep 
by means of ropes, was repairing the damage. In the 
evening we observed huge icebergs floating as the 
currents bore them. On the banks of Newfoundland 
the sea was covered over with millions of sea-birds 
gracefully poising themselves on the waves ; and at last 
we arrived at Hudson's Bay, which is truly magnificent. 
The heavens were serene, the sun genially warm, the 
sea calm and mirror-like, without a breeze to ripple 
its surface. At our ease we gazed in admiration on 
the enchanting shore of this bay, one of the most 
beautiful in the world, as it is ornamented with pretty 
little towns coquettish in their beauty, elegant and 
graceful country residences scattered over the green 
and blue rising grounds of Long Island and New Jersey. 

Lake Erie being frozen over, I was obliged to make a 
stay of fifteen days at New York. I afterwards embarked 
in one of the monster steamers that ply on the Hudson 
as far as Albany. r l hanks to a spirited sailing match 
we made this distance — about 156 miles — in a few 
hours, and for the trifling sum of one piastre. The two 
contending boats weighed anchor at the same moment, 
and set out in a spirit of proud rivalry. We sailed 
twenty-five, at times twenty-seven, miles an hour ; and 
yet our captain, not quite satisfied with this speed, had 
casks of oil and grease thrown into the furnace. The fire 
seized the vessel twice. At forks of the river the rival 
boats endeavoured to cut clear a-head in order to shorten 
their way, and in this manoeuvre they often became en- 



210 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



tangled, with the danger of both going to the bottom, 
while there were from seven to eight hundred passengers 
on board. The contest was becoming quite a serious 
matter, and our lives were in jeopardy at once from 
smoke, fire and water. We hold a hurried meeting, dis- 
cuss the crisis, and send a deputation to the captain, 
praying him to desist from this dangerous course. He 
replied with Jack-tar- American politeness : — 

" You be d — -d ; for what you pay, you may as well 
all go to h — 11." At the same time he bawls out to the 
fireman, " Fire — fire, you there — more lard in the fur- 
nace." Our position had become truly fearful, when one 
of the passengers put an end to it by levelling a musket 
at the poor helmsman of our rival, and discharging its 
contents into his body. The poor fellow let go the 
wheel and dropped down frightfully wounded. 

Arrived at Albany, I took the train to Buffalo, having 
run these 345 miles in twelve hours, but not without 
accident. The train that preceded us had got off the 
rails, and the way not being yet clear at the scene of the 
disaster, despite all the efforts of the engineer, we drove 
into a carriage on the line and had three of our com- 
pany severely injured. At Buffalo, notwithstanding a 
violent gale that threatened a tempest on. the lake, I 
embarked for Sandusky, where we arrived after a 
horrible passage of forty-eight hours and having twice 
struck on the sand-banks. All along the passengers 
held themselves ready, provided with a chair or some 
kind of life-buoy, expecting every moment to be hurled 
into the lake. From Sandusky to Cincinnati — a dis- 
tance of 225 miles — I travelled by rail. Perhaps in 
the United States there is no other line more varied or 
picturesque in its scenery. When I was at Cincinnati, 



COLLISION. OHIO SCENERY. 



211 



the wife of the first colonist who cleared those charming 
undulating tracts was still to be seen there. It is 
certainly one of the handsomest cities of the United 
States, and the Germans have made it one of the richest. 
The vine produces there a very good quality of grape ; 
and it is the only part of the United States where the 
tree is extensively cultivated. 

We went down the Ohio in a magnificent steamer ; 
and two days after our departure we came into collision 
with a vessel going up the river. She went down at 
once; but we succeeded in saving sixteen of her pas- 
sengers. It was in April, and the weather was heavy, 
forcing one into a musing mood, with its chilling 
cheerless blasts murmuring as they came. I got on 
deck, and threw myself down before the pilot's cabin, 
preferring this icy solitude on deck to the stunning talk 
of the saloon, where the passengers blistered their 
tongues with eternal gossip about huge stoves that gave 
out more smoke than heat. By degrees I saw unfold- 
ing itself before me one of those panoramas of wild and 
primal beauty that has always for me a charm, new 
though melancholy. 

Beautiful hillocks encircled with trees, and uniform in 
their proportions, lined the banks of the Ohio, forming 
a double range of vast and monotonous undulations, 
which, like monster embankments, confined the stream 
to a narrower bed and set bounds to its course. The yel- 
lowish waters of the river rolled along slowly, and wound 
round here and there into a thousand graceful forms. 
A scarcely perceptible down of early verdure graced the 
tops of the trees which nature had scattered over these 
hillocks in such profusion. You would have imagined 
them two armies of giants encamped in an antediluvian 

p 2 



212 



TEXAS A ED MEXICO. 



valley. Here and there you observed, either on the Ken- 
tucky or the Ohio side, certain cleared spots, planted with 
the germs of some future American towns ; you distin- 
guished houses of wood or of brick, separate or in groups, 
on each side of one or more dirty streets, in which a mul- 
titude of hogs wallowed in the luxury of mire. The 
sight of these few houses, red or white as they were, rest- 
ing on the river's bank and waiting for a destiny, for a 
future, made me sad. However, these embryos of cities, 
these miniature germs of cities in the distance of time, 
are mutually connected by a cordon of huts made of 
planks or blocks of trees, and present considerable interest 
from their very situation. In presence of these diversified 
pictures of nature and of man my imagination roved 
away in the regions of an undefined melancholy — for in 
America, as everywhere else, I found man blotting out 
the sublime poetic creations of primitive nature to make 
room for the prosy work of speculation, which, whatever 
may be its commercial usefulness, will be ever, for the 
intelligent traveller and tourist, a winding-sheet of ice 
thrown over those delicious thoughts that spring from 
the sublime scenes of solitary nature. 

I remained several hours reclined, indulging in my 
reveries : when I thought of going below, the sun had 
already sunk behind the rising grounds ; the branches 
of the trees and their slight tufts of verdure stood out 
in relief against the green-blue sky like summer clouds ; 
the river grew broader, forming itself into a large lake, of 
a dark hue and gradually of a shapeless outline; a graceful 
island was espied in the middle of the river on the verge 
of the horizon ; a light white vapour, resembling a scarf 
of delicate gauze, enveloped the distant island in its unsub- 
stantial folds; and, as it rose above the trees, it reflected, 



MOONITES WITHOUT WATER. 



213 



in a mysterious manner, the golden hues of the setting 
sun. This freak of nature had just added a new feeling 
to that chaos of diversified impressions which, for the last 
few hours, had brought into play all the poetic chords 
of my soul. Meanwhile it was piercingly cold, and while 
eye and imagination roamed abroad, my teeth chattered, 
and yet I felt not that I was chilled and frozen. 

On entering the saloon I saw my fellow-travellers 
gathered round an Episcopalian bishop, who was deve- 
loping a rather singular thesis : he was attempting to 
prove that as there is no water in the moon there can 
be no men there; for men cannot live without water. 
I would have asked him to prove that there was no 
water in the moon, but I feared my demand would be 
deemed out of place by the preacher — I say preacher, 
for his eloquence took quite the shape of a sermon. 
After him two Presbyterian ministers preached on the 
inferiority of the Indian races to the whites, and on the 
impossibility of bringing the former within the pale of 
civilisation. These two had resided in one of the American 
forts on the Ked Eiver, and had seized the opportunity 
of preaching to some of the Indians who came to demand 
payment for their ceded territory. It is well known 
that the American Government has driven some of the 
Indian tribes from their lands allowing them, in consi- 
deration, some wretched annual pittance- This brace of 
ministers told us that the Indians were brutalised by 
their indulgence in alcoholic drinks, and that the gospel 
had no salutary influence on their lives. 

In proof of their assertion they related that they them- 
selves were witnesses to some payments made them by the 
American Government, for which these naked savages, 
instead of buying clothes, procured umbrellas, hats, and 

p 3 



214 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



eau-de-vie. When a Protestant minister is on board a 
steamer he rarely escapes being asked to preach, no 
matter what about. These casual sermons no doubt 
entertain the passengers, but they are devoid at once of 
solid interest and moral effect. 

According as we were making progress down the 
river we were passing, too, apace from winter to spring- 
time ; the trees were putting on their mantle of green 
and the shrubs bedecking themselves with flowers ; the 
light downy tufts, scarcely presenting a shade of verdure 
on the Ohio banks, were changed along the Mississippi 
into a dense and fragrant foliage, while the temperature 
increased in proportion. Opposite Wicksburg about 
thirty trusses of hay, left by negligence near the furnace 
of the steamer, took fire ; and to escape being roasted 
alive in the midst of water, we all ran to the pumps, and 
eventually mastered the flames. 

Arrived at Louisiana I felt as if borne again to the 
burning life of the tropics ; the poplars, the sycamores, 
the wild vine, the different plants were in all the pomp of 
vernal beauty, while the air was fragrant with the rich per- 
fume of flower and forest, and yet it was only the month 
of April. At last, we arrived at New Orleans, but not 
having wherewithal to go to Texas, I returned to La- 
fourche, to collect among my friends. The kind Arch- 
bishop of New Orleans added so much to my store, that 
on the 5th of May I resumed my journey, and two days 
after, favoured by excellent weather, I arrived at Galves- 
ton. The Bishop of Galveston exchanged my mission 
at Castroville for a new one on the western frontiers of 
Texas, which are bounded by the Rio del Norte, com- 
monly called the Rio Grande, which has its source at 
the base of the Sierra- Verde, and empties itself into the 



THE SAILOR'S DREAM. 



215 



Gulf of Mexico. This new destination put me about a 
good deal ; for it not only separated me from my sterling 
friend and colleague the Abbe Dubuis, but it also shut 
me out completely from my old acquaintances. I did not 
relish solitude very much ; for in these countries, more 
barbarian than civilised, it presented dangers and ennuis 
which, without the special aids of grace, the most iron 
will could not support. I pleaded my ignorance of 
Spanish, which is the language of the mass of the Ca- 
tholics of these portions of the country ; but I had to 
yield to the pious urgency of the venerable prelate, who 
promised to send me a co-operator at his earliest oppor- 
tunity ; and on the 4th of May I embarked in the teeth 
of a frightful tempest, which was nearly making short 
work of us all an hour after our departure. I confess 
that, being too well aware of the rickety state of our 
craft, the tempest had no great charms for me, especially 
as I had had already no small experience of its nature 
and workings. Hence the hoarse raging of the waves 
w r as to me quite monotonous. 

On the first night we witnessed a scene, the burlesque 
of which can be more easily conceived than expressed. 
The steward of the steamer had fallen asleep on a sofa in 
the cabin, while a servant, having no bed to lie on stretched 
himself near the sofa, and was soon wrapped in a profound 
sleep. The storm that still continued to rage exercised, 
no doubt, a certain influence on the steward's dreams; for 
he dreamt that the craft was shattered by the tempest, 
and that he was cast among the waves, having no hope 
but in a plank which he spied just before his eyes, and 
which he seized and held to with all his might. At this 
moment a huge wave struck the boat a-starboard and 
flung us all clean out of our berths. The steward, 



216 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



without awaking, fell plump on the servant, and ima- 
gining him the safety plank of his dream, grasped him 
by the neck, crying out at the same time, " Oh ! thank 
God, I have hold of it — it shall not slip from me." 

The servant, startled out of his sleep by this fearful 
gripe, cried out " Help ! assassin ! " Attracted loy the 
cries of both combatants, we moved at once to the rescue 
of the assailed, but we left out of our calculations the 
heaving of the boat, which sent most of us bang 
down upon both the steward and the servant. To com- 
plete the confusion, in rushes a lady in a strange and 
disordered costume, all in tears, and alarmed out of 
her wits by the pelting storm. She flung herself at the 
feet of the steward, crying out, " Captain, Captain, save 
me — land me somewhere and I'll give you ten thousand 
piastres." 

The steward, now quite restored to consciousness, 
laughed in his peculiar way, and observing the lady, 
briskly answered, " I'm not the captain ; and as for the 
matter of that, why for all the gold in the world we 
could not put you ashore, for we are a good way off 
from land." 

At last we arrived at Brazos Santiago. A stranger, 
unacquainted with the extension accorded to the word 
town in the United States, would be at a loss for a trace 
of one in a few wretched huts scattered along the shore. 
I think I have already observed that the coast of Texas 
is girt around, almost in its entire extent, by a string 
of various sandy islands, of very unequal length. The 
spaces between them are called bars, and the bays 
formed by them with the mainland are so shallow 
that vessels cannot land their passengers or cargoes 
except in boats and flat-bottomed craft. Brazos is 



POINT ISABELLA. 



217 



situated at the eastern extremity of one of these islands, 
and only four miles from the mouth of the Rio Grande. 
Besides the few huts already referred to, there are 
some large wooden structures, got up at the time of the 
Mexican war, as depots of the American army. These 
edifices are now abandoned ruins. In summer the 
heat is suffocatirjg ; the absence of trees or verdure, 
and the reflection of the sun's scorching heat from the 
sands, would make the place uninhabitable were there 
not a sea breeze morning and evening to temper the 
burning heat of the atmosphere. 

A boat conveyed us from Brazos to Point Isabella, 
the nearest inland town in this quarter, and the 
entrepot of goods coming from the United States, and 
destined for the frontiers of Texas and the interior of 
Mexico. It is just a similar place to Brazos, slovenly, 
sorry, and chiefly inhabited by Mexicans, whose huts are 
pitched without taste or order on the strand. You never 
fail to meet there a number of arrieros, or Mexican car 
drivers, whose huge vehicles drawn by oxen are waiting 
for goods to be conveyed to Brownsville. The region 
about Point Isabella has an elevation of some yards above 
the level of the bay, and forms an amphitheatre of sand 
and yellowish earth, which feeds at intervals a few tufts 
of grass and stunted brushwood, the prey of the scorch- 
ing sun. Along the horizon the eye is relieved by no 
variety ; all is a parched desert. 

The passengers were provided with two vehicles 
drawn by four horses. Once seated we were off at a 
gallop. My next neighbour was the director of the 
bank at Brownsville, a native Mexican, by name Couth- 
way. He was also a bit of a naturalist, a man of no 
common intelligence, as well as of distinguished mien and 



218 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



manners, such, that I formed for him a sincere attachment 
during our passage from Galveston to Brazos. Though 
a zealous Episcopalian, and aware of my character as a 
Catholic missionary, he on his side formed for me a friend- 
ship proof against the changes of time and place. By his 
warm introductions he procured me a gratifying recep- 
tion in the easy society of the frontiers ; he spoke to all 
his friends and acquaintances of what he was pleased to 
call the liberality of my character, which was nothing 
more than common Christian charity, and the simple 
practice of the spirit of the gospel. Thus, let me confess 
it, this worthy friend smoothed down afterwards not a 
few difficulties that lay in my path, in securing for me 
the confidence and esteem of the bulk of the people with 
whom it was my destiny to be in daily contact. 

The route from Isabella Point to Brownsville lies for 
some distance along the bay ; then turning to the left 
it enters a vast marshy plain, indented with natural salt- 
pits, and often presenting the phenomenon of the mirage. 
This plain at its north-western extremity joins that of 
Palo- Alto, in which was fought the first battle between 
the Americans under General Taylor and the Mexicans 
commanded by General Arista. The success attending 
this first campaign of the Americans, which was of two 
years' duration, was owing, in a great measure, to their 
superior artillery. The high road runs through the 
middle of the battle field. 

Leaving behind us the plain of Palo- Alto, we entered 
a thick-set brushwood, formerly frequented by the In- 
dians, who butchered there a whole Irish family, the 
ruins of whose dwelling are still visible to the left of the 
road. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century this part 
of Texas was called Costa- Deserta by Spanish historians. 



ORIGIN OF BROWNSVILLE. 



219 



The Indians themselves never seemed to take to it much. 
We next passed by the Resaca De La Palma, equally re- 
markable for a bloody encounter, of which it was the 
scene on the day following that of Palo- Alto. The 
Mexicans give the name of Resaca to a dried-up bed 
of a river, and of such there is no small number along 
the bank of the Rio Grande. At last we arrived at 
Brownsville, my future place of residence. 

During the war of intervention the American Colonel 
Brown constructed a fort in front of Matamo^as, a 
Mexican town, where he fell, and lies in the fort which 
bears his name. 

Around this dreaded tomb some French and Ameri- 
can merchants settled down, as well as a number of 
Mexican families, and thus Brownsville was founded. At 
my arrival the town had been standing four years, and 
already did it reckon about five or six thousand in 
population, chiefly Mexicans. 

The site of Brownsville is most favourable for transit 
commerce ; situated on the extreme limits of Texas, it 
despatches goods to all the Mexican towns, north and 
east. It is situated in ninety-eight degrees (Green- 
wich) west longitude, and twenty-eight north latitude, 
about thirty-five miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The 
yellowish sandy waters of the Rio Grande wash, in 
their course, the gardens of the town and its amphi- 
theatre-shaped quay. The soil consists of fine white 
sand, which, in north winds, rises in whirls so thick as 
to darken the atmosphere, and render all intercourse in 
the streets impossible. As a set-ofF the rain, which in 
these quarters falls suddenly in immense torrents, makes 
rivers of the streets, which foot-passengers, horses and 
cattle wade through without faltering. The vicinity is 



220 



TEXAS AMD MEXICO. 



fertile and the vegetation of tropical luxuriance. You 
meet with neither birch nor fir-tree, even the oak is 
rare, but in every direction rise the date tree, the fan- 
branch palm tree, the ebony, the aloe, the Cocus Mau- 
ri tia, the colossal fern, the cactus of every denomi- 
nation, The woods abound with wild vines and odo- 
riferous plants, countless flowers of countless brilliant 
colours, forms, and enchanting perfumes, and over this 
rich fecundity of earth expands a sky without speck, 
a sun cloudless and glorious. 

The church of Brownsville rose opposite Brown's 
fort, in the midst of a wild, uncultivated, unenclosed 
country. It was of wood, and could accommodate about 
three hundred people. The belfry was not unlike a 
cage surmounted by a cross. I contrived, after a time, 
to cover the shapelessness of the walls and all the inside 
with certain paintings on cotton. The presbytery formed 
part of the building, which consisted of a square struc- 
ture of four chambers, one being the sacristy ; but there 
was not even a particle of furniture in it ; and hence 
the first night I was happy to sleep on the boards. Next 
day a young officer of the garrison gave me a settee 
bed, bed linen, blankets and a few chairs, offering me 
also his table and his purse. I really had need of these 
kind offers, being almost penniless at the time, and I 
therefore gratefully accepted them. Without them I 
hardly know how I could have settled down in my des- 
titution. This good officer's name was M. Garresche, a 
Frenchman by birth, and an excellent Catholic. 

The aspect of the city is pleasing enough. The greater 
part of the houses are made of brick, but well-shaped 
and surrounded with gardens. Along the thorough- 
fares it is protected by facades, which are half hidden 



ARRANGING AN OLD TOWN. 



221 



from view by Chinese lilac, willows and acacias, which 
give at once shade and perfume to the houses. The 
streets are wide, and at right angles, though they were 
not so at all times. In the beginning, each colonist and 
merchant fixed his hut wherever he liked. As the town 
developed itself, the necessity of a municipal organisa- 
tion became manifest, and its action was inaugurated 
by an ordinance relative to the proper direction of the 
streets. The sheriff, who was quite a practical man, 
though a downright brute and knew no compromise, 
— of whom by-and-bye — was charged with the execu- 
tion of the decree. He proclaimed that within the 
space of eight days every house should be on the line 
drawn by the surveyor-general, and that all those 
that were not promptly changed must be taken down 
forthwith. All knew what kind of man the sheriff 
was, and that his menace was no vain parade ; hence 
during the week all the houses were one great wreck, 
some receding, others projecting, as the sheriff's tape 
directed. 

The ground was sandy and irregular, so that every 
moment houses going in opposite directions came into 
collision. Thus obstructed in their course several en- 
countered on the same point, and the general circulation 
being thus obstructed, and the sheriff being no joker 
when things were not up to time, angry cries, disputes, 
and serious encounters became the unhappy consequence. 
Nearly all the wooden houses were in line on the 
appointed day ; but as to the reed and branch huts, there 
they had to stand, the prey of about twenty merciless 
hatchets, under the orders of the sheriff. 

My new mission was of large extent. All around 
Brownsville swept by a radius of 60 miles, the popula- 



222 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



tion was very dense, and for about three hundred miles 
northward numerous towns succeeded each other on 
the banks of the Rio Grande, as well as several esta- 
blishments which it was my duty to visit. I was not 
obliged to diverge much from the river, but for a long 
way I had to ascend its course. Unlike my former 
mission its Catholic population did not consist chiefly of 
Germans and Alsacians. Mexicans were my principal 
charge, they forming the mass of the population, while 
the territory had been lately annexed to the United 
States. 

In my first mission the vices that Abbe Dubuis and 
myself had chiefly to encounter were avarice, roguery, 
and drunkenness. In the second, I stood single-handed 
against ignorance, superstition, indifference and immo- 
rality. True, indigence was no longer my inseparable 
associate, but the vices and the incurable indifference 
of my flock were enough to break my heart. Besides 
I was completely ignorant of Spanish, which was indis- 
pensable to my success. 

Notwithstanding this latter inconvenience I set about 
my reconnoitring visits the day after my arrival, and 
my reception was, throughout, warm and cordial. The 
truth is, the arrival of a priest is quite an event in 
these quarters ; and let me add, Mr. Couthway's good 
offices had their full share in procuring for me this 
hearty reception. Catholics, Protestants and Jews, all 
alike bade me a kindly welcome, and offered their best 
services. By these friendly demonstrations I did not 
allow myself to be blinded to the fact that such are for 
the most part of a personal nature, and go as easily as 
they come, the moment the man gives way to the priest. 
Nevertheless I accepted these marks of kindly interest 



INCREDULITY IN MISSIONARY DEVOTEDNESS. 223 

with satisfaction, and promised to avail myself of them 
when occasion required. 

The great bulk of my parishioners had no idea of the 
devotedness of the missionaries, or of the great motive 
power that impels them on. It is true that with men 
who only value and seek out here below the possession 
of money, as a means of procuring the mere animal 
enjoyments of life, the heart and soul are closed to 
those moral and intellectual sentiments so full of secret, 
mysterious joy. The apostolic life, with all its sacri- 
fices, sufferings and devotedness, is a book shut up 
from them ; and thus they could not realise how I had 
a second time travelled over a space of nine thousand 
miles, exposed to every peril and fatigue, for the sole 
purpose of improving their lives, and instructing them 
in their religious duties. 

So much trouble, they thought, was poorly repaid in 
the object. Many among them who, for reasons I know 
not, at once displayed a sympathy for me, and with a 
certain interest would inquire : u But what have you 
done to be sent here ? " 

" No one has sent me ; I have come of my own accord." 

" What ! you have not been obliged to quit France 
for some grave reasons ?" 

" For no reason in life, except to instruct you. If a 
priest acts wrong, the church strips him of the power 
to exercise his ecclesiastical functions, but she sends him 
nowhere. 5 ' 

" Then you have come here as soldiers go to war, for 
advancement, and to become a bishop ?" 

" It is the last of my thoughts. The episcopate is too 
heavy a load, and too dangerous a charge to be the object 
of my ambition, and good priests never seek or desire it." 



224 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Then, as did the disciples of Jesus Christ, they 
shook their heads as a mark of incredulity, and thought 
within them, " This language is hard to be under- 
stood." 

By means of those visits I obtained valuable informa- 
tion respecting the country and its inhabitants, and was 
soon settled down in the business of my mission ; but, 
alas ! affairs were far from presenting the colour of 
the rose. I frankly avow that I felt alarm at the task 
before me. How much labour would it cost me to 
implant in these souls, I do not say the very elements of 
religion, but even a sense of order, reason and morality ! 
Still I was aware of how gentle, gracious, and open to 
persuasion, were the Mexican people, and I entered on 
my task with courage, knowing that heaven would not 
fail to send its powerful aids, and that even in the event 
of failure, the Master whom I served would take into 
good account my efforts and my labour. 



225 



CHAP. IL 

THE BARILLEROS. — THE BAR-ROOM. — FERVOUR OP BROWNSVILLE 
PEOPLE. — STATE OP AMERICAN SOCIETY IN GENERAL, AND OF 
TEXIAN PN PARTICULAR. APPLICATION OF LYNCH-LAW. — EXECU- 
TION. — MORALITY OF THE CIVIC AUTHORITIES. THE SHERIFF. 

TWO BLOODHOUNDS AS KEEPERS OF THE PRISON. — THE FREE- 
MASONS, AND THE BURIAL OF AN IRISHMAN. THE MAGISTRACY IN 

THE NEW STATES OF THE UNION. — PARTIALITY OF THE JUDGES. 
— LAW PROCEEDINGS. — ELECTIONS. — A FASHIONABLE DOCTOR. 

In paying my visits I was struck with the animation 
of Brownsville. I was made to understand that this 
was due to a number of Rancheros, or frontier farmers, 
who came in every day, either on horseback or in carts, 
to buy provisions and make other purchases for them- 
selves, their families, and their friends. The streets 
were sadly cut up by the constant tread of horsemen, 
richly mounted indeed ; by the Arrieros, who loaded and 
unloaded their goods; by the Barilleros, called else- 
where aguaderos, or water-carriers. These poor fellows 
dress almost like the Lazzaroni of Naples. A shirt open 
in front and exposing the chest, with the sleeves tucked 
up to the shoulders, cotton drawers turned up above 
the knees, and sometimes a hat made of palm branches, 
make up the entire wardrobe of the Barilleros. It is 
they who furnish the inhabitants with water, bring- 
ing it from the Rio Grande in casks having two axles 
attached to their ends. To these axles is fitted a cord, 
by which the Barilleros draw the casks like rollers 

Q 



226 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



without much fatigue or inconvenience, to escape which 
the Mexican seldom fails in ingenuity. 

I likewise remarked a great number of people drunk, 
sprawling asleep in the sun before the grog-shops where 
they get intoxicated. These taverns, called bar-rooms, 
are often the theatre of scenes that disgrace human 
nature. On one occasion, an Irishman of a respectable 
family fell foul of an American merchant naturally of 
a quarrelsome temper. The friends on both sides de- 
cided that recourse to arms could alone make amends 
for the offence. A duel was at once decided upon, and 
took place in the very tavern. The Irishman got a 
pistol not charged, and of course fell. Such is their 
notion of fair play in America. 

The greater number of those I saw drunk were 
Mexicans who are not much accustomed to spirituous 
drinks, and Americans belonging to the temperance so- 
cieties. These societies, though numerous in the States, 
are far from reducing the number of drunkards; for 
though their members promise to abstain from wine, 
they nevertheless indulge in other fermented liquors. 

The news of my arrival soon spread among the 
ranches around Brownsville ; and reckoning upon a 
large auditory on the following Sunday, I got my letter 
of appointment translated into Spanish, adding a few 
words of invitation to my parishioners to come and see 
me, that I might thus the sooner learn the spiritual 
wants of their different localities. In reality the church 
was crowded with Mexicans, Europeans, and Americans, 
of every shade of religion. The reading of my letter 
gave them satisfaction, and from that day forth I had 
numerous visits. During the week, M. and Madame 
Garresch£ were the only ones who visited the church. 



POPULATION OF TEXAS. 



227 



The fervour of the Catholics did not go quite so far ; but 
I rang the mass bell, said it, and served it for the most 
part alone. To try how far religious ceremonies might 
attract the people, I organised, in a hurried way, a kind 
of choir, and endeavoured to celebrate the month of 
May with the ceremonies usual in France. May being 
nearly ended, my success was very poor ; for out of a 
population containing about ten or twelve thousand, 
in the neighbourhood of Brownsville, only twenty-five 
celebrated the communion. 

At Brownsville, as well as along all the frontiers of 
Texas, and I may say the entire extent of this vast State, 
and in all the new States of the Union, the population 
presents the oddest and most heterogeneous medley to 
be met with in the United States. American society 
almost defies analysis or description, — so changeful are 
its features, so diversified its character. Hence it is 
little known. Novelists and historians have sketched 
it, but always insufficiently ; for to present a perfect 
likeness of a society so unstable and diversified would 
be quite impossible. For a certain time in the same 
locality the picture might hold ; change time and place, 
and it ceases to be a likeness. 

Not to speak of the vast regions themselves, at 
every point so different in aspect, in climate, in pro- 
ductions, in interest, and in internal government, 
crowds of European emigrants scatter themselves 
every year all over the Union, already a confused 
mixture of all nations — Spaniards, Anglo-Saxons, 
French, Mexicans. The Americans, strictly so called, 
are so unlike each other in their education, tastes, and 
ideas, that you would never take them for the same 
people ; so that, to comprehend these singular anomalies, 

Q 2 



228 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



you must bear in mind the constitution of these colonies 
before the era of their independence. On one side in- 
dividuals remarkable for their acquirements, intelli- 
gence, and upright character, who would shine in the 
brightest European circles, are met with ; others so 
depraved that our very galleys could hardly supply their 
equals in crime, or criminal history, monsters more 
hideous. Between these extremes, there are to be met 
with qualities and vices which supply the pen of the his- 
torian with curious details, and develope themselves by 
public and singular acts, not alone in the grand political 
party questions, but in the minor and local ones of 
general and civic administration. 

The Americans of the Texian frontiers are, for the 
most part, the very scum of society — bankrupts, 
escaped criminals, old volunteers, who after the treaty 
of Guadulupe Hidalgo, came into a country protected 
by nothing that could be called a judicial authority, 
to seek adventure and illicit gains. The great towns 
of the Union have some kind of police, but along the 
frontiers of the new States the law has little sway. It 
is evaded or resisted, and there is no armed force to 
make it respected. 

Before the municipal organisation of Brownsville, 
Lynch-law was in full force. The inhabitants were 
obliged to have recourse to this extremity as the only 
means of providing for their own safety. The judg- 
ments of the people, no doubt, had the merit of im- 
partiality in the punishment of the guilty; but they 
had the one great fault of precipitation, a man being 
hung for inflicting a wound, without any inquiry 
whether the wound was serious or otherwise. 

One evening, during a fandango, an American who 



LYNCH-LAW. 



229 



was half drunk, quarrelled with a Mexican, drew him 
out of the dance, and stabbed him in the abdomen. 
The Mexican cried murder, and, besmeared with blood, 
crawled as far as the ball-room door. At sight of this 
unfortunate sufferer, the dancers set off in pursuit of 
the American, who had run towards the Rio Grande 
in the hope of escaping by swimming across it. But he 
was too late. He was arrested as he was on the point 
of flinging himself into the river, and, well handcuffed, 
he was confined in a wooden hut, under strict vigi- 
lance during the night. Next morning, the people were 
summoned with sound of trumpet to pronounce sen- 
tence. One man (the future sheriff) stepped aside a 
little, and without judicial charge or display of oratory 
shouted, " Let those who vote for his death step this 
way. Let the rest remain as they are." This laconic, 
savage address was received with a stunning hurrah ! 
and the prisoner was condemned to death! The crowd 
proceeded at once to the prisoner, whom they placed 
on a cart, and the crowd moved on to the shambles, 
no gallows as yet being erected. This place, infected 
with the blood and remains of slaughtered animals, was 
a small space, without roof or shade, roasted by the 
sun, and the resort of dogs which fought for the bones 
of the animals. It was situated near the church. The 
cart stopped beneath the posts that were used to hang 
up the slaughtered oxen. The future sheriff seized 
the cord, and set about making the fatal noose ; but it 
would seem that he was doing the thing unhandily, for 
the culprit, whose hands were now set free, said to him, 
" Let me do it. You don't know your business." And 
seizing the rope, he tied the knot, and put it round his 
own neck. Having done so, he thus addressed the crowd : 

Q 3 



230 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



" Good sirs, listen to wholesome advice. If you 
wish never to have the rope about your necks, don't get 
drunk. It is drunkenness that has put me into this cart. 
Now I have a last favour to ask of you. Do not put 
my name in the papers, that my mother may remain as 
long as possible ignorant of her son's fate." After 
these few words, which made a deep impression on the 
crowd, he cried to the horses to move on, and in an 
instant his body hung from the posts, where it re- 
mained suspended in mid-air for a few minutes ; and the 
Mexican who had been stabbed, died early on the follow- 
ing day. 

Subsequently these executions, which had become of 
very frequent occurrence, assumed a more solemn cha- 
racter—a minister of religion being present to assist the 
criminal. Still barbarism did not divest itself of all its 
rights. One day I witnessed the execution of three at the 
same time, two Mexicans and an American. The latter in 
a mock-fight had fired his revolver at his adversary, while 
some one behind him attempted to seize his arm, but the 
trigger was pulled, and the ball struck one of the assis- 
tants. The clay of the execution the friends of the Ameri- 
can, to soothe the pain of his last moments, made the 
unfortunate man drunk, and he walked to the scaffold 
staggering, humming a ditty, with a cigar in his mouth, 
and accompanied by a Presbyterian minister, a Catholic 
priest assisting the Mexicans. The ropes being ar- 
ranged and the criminals placed on the fatal board, the 
Catholic priest knelt down and begged the crowd to pray 
for those who were about to suffer. The prayer over, 
the Presbyterian minister made a long discourse, during 
which the criminals had to wait in suspense before being 
launched into eternity. I could never endure those 



THE SHERIFF OF LYNCHDOM. 



231 



horrid tortures of soul, and always contented myself 
with accompanying the criminals to the place of execu- 
tion, exhorting them on the way with all my strength to 
die like true Christians. 

In Europe these judicial procedures of Mexico will, 
no doubt, be judged with severity ; nevertheless, the 
habits of the people are so very different from ours, that 
what we judge harsh and cruel, they often regard as 
perfectly humane. What shocks our usages, our reason, 
and sentiments, seems sometimes, in the solitudes of the 
new world, not only quite natural but indispensable ; 
for the requirements of these solitudes are in proportion 
to their civilisation. 

On the frontiers of Texas, where human life is little 
valued, the inhabitants have little personal protection 
except in their arms. Hence they always go armed. 
To put down those evil-doers who would not submit to 
the regular organisation of justice, the inhabitants did 
not hesitate to entrust the execution of this expeditious 
code to officers of the halter, whose antecedents were of 
a nature to strike terror into the most intractable. But 
were those that deserved it most brought to the gibbet, 
the very functionaries would be the first, and they would 
be followed by a goodly number of judges, barristers, 
and doctors, headed by the sheriff himself. 

This was a man of immense stature and of Herculean 
proportions. His expressionless features bore the im- 
press of cruelty. He carried at his waist a six-barrel 
revolver, and in his hand a cow-hide lash, making fre- 
quent use of both. Whenever he went in pursuit of 
any malefactor it was not certain that he would bring 
back his prey ; but it was improbable that the prey 
would ever return out of his company. One day that 

q 4 



232 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



he gave chase to a robber, the plundered dealer in- 
quired on his return if he had found his man. 

" Yes," the sheriff coolly answered ; " I could not fetch 
him back, but it is all the same — he'll steal no more." 

Soon afterwards the robber's body was discovered in 
a chaparal with a ball in his heart, and half covered 
with shrubs and moss. Honest folks could not find a 
more energetic officer of justice. As we have seen, the 
sheriff made no secret of his exploits, which were noto- 
rious, and every succeeding week revealed new feats of 
this kind, which, true or false, served to increase his 
reputation and render him more terrible to the evil- 
doers. 

The prison of Brownsville was a small plank cabin, 
erected opposite the church, and surrounded by a hedge 
of briars. Though all the prisoners were chained down, 
many broke their bonds, and escapes were of no rare 
occurrence. To diminish their frequency the sheriff 
intrusted the prison-gate to the keeping of two blood- 
hounds of the bull-dog breed, of proverbial ferocity, such 
as chase the negroes, and were employed by the Ame- 
ricans against the Indians and in the war of Florida. 

Several times as I was returning from attendance on 
the sick, and passing in. front of the prison, these dogs 
would bound over the hedge in pursuit of me, and I 
owed my escapes to my fleetness alone. I went to wait 
on the sheriff to inform him of the constant danger I ran 
from his dogs, and I begged him to have them chained 
at night, or at least to prevent them from getting into 
the streets. He laughed heartily at my complaint. 
Then I observed — 

"My dear Sheriff, I will run no more risks; when 
next vour do°;s attack me, I will kill them. When 



HOW TO MAKE A Fill END. 



233 



my path is crossed by a tarantula or a serpent which 
attempts to bite me, I make no scruple of crushing it at 
once. You are therefore warned." — " Eh ! eh ! indeed." 

And he retired with a somewhat incredulous and 
defiant air. The opportunity to prove that I spoke 
quite seriously was not slow in coming. A few days 
after, I was called at about eleven o'clock at night to the 
bedside of a dying man. I went with my pistol, as 
usual, in my pocket, and my life-preserver (assommoir) 
in my hand, prepared for any contingency. Passing 
close to the prison I saw the dogs clearing over the 
shrubbery hedge, and making towards me ; but I was 
quite resolved to make short work of it with them, and 
splendid moonlight enabled me to take aim. In two 
seconds, I broke the skull of one and the jawbone of 
the other, which slunk away yelling horribly. Now at 
rest as to the consequences of my nocturnal journeys, I 
proceeded to visit the dying man, satisfied that on my 
return I no longer ran the risk of being torn to pieces. 
Next day the sheriff came to my house, in a great fury, 
with the whip in his hand, perhaps resolved to make 
goodly use of it. But I watched him closely, for I ex- 
pected the visit. 

" It was you killed my dogs," he said. 

"Yes," I coolly replied; "you had your warning, 
which you disregarded — you only laughed at it ; and, 
as the proverb says, ' I would rather kill the d — 1 than 
be killed by him. 7 " 

His rage now knew no bounds. He raised his whip 
to belabour me, but instantly snatching my pistol from 
my pocket, I put the muzzle of it to his breast, and coolly 
said, " Sheriff, I am no Mexican ; and if you value your 
life treat me as a gentleman." 



234 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



My determination had its full effect. He became pale 
as death, his lash fell from his hand, his anger ceased, 
and he made an attempt to smile. 

" Come, Sheriff," I observed, " give me your hand ; let 
us be friends."- — " With all my heart !" he replied, and 
with that he gave me a vigorous shake of the hands. 
" Ah ! you are a man — I am quite pleased with you. 
Should any one fail to treat you with due respect, he 
shall have to do with me, rest assured of that. 'Sdeath, 
cliable, man ! " he then exclaimed, with a rather comical 
and half-serious air, " you are more determined than I 
thought. Before picking a quarrel with you, a man 
should take his measures of precaution." " Ah ! my 
dear sir," I replied in the same tone, " your courage, 
entre nous, is mighty great before cowards ; but as you 
value your personal safety, do not rank me in that cate- 
gory, as, when there is question of my honour and of my 
rights as citizen and minister of religion, be assured of 
it I shall never be intimidated by any man ; and to be 
treated with true respect I shall ever have a firm hand 
and an unblenching eye." 

The sheriff kept his word ; and from this day forward 
he showed himself a stanch friend to me. 

The Americans, in order to have strangers bow to 
their good pleasure, do not hesitate to have recourse to 
violence. But they yield with as much readiness the 
moment that their menaces, impotent to frighten, are 
met with energy of language and attitude. 

Let me illustrate this by another personal example. 
An. old Irishman, who lived in the United States with his 
only daughter, came to Texas to dispose of some land 
that belonged to him on the banks of the Eio Grande. 
Having realised two or three thousand dollars by the sale, 



IRISH FREEMASON'S FUNERAL, 



235 



he was preparing to return to the United States when 
he fell ill at Brownsville, and died in the course of a few 
days. Before his death, one of his nephews apprised me 
of his illness and begged of me to visit him. I instantly 
complied. The dying man was a Freemason, but, anxious 
to receive the consolations of religion, he renounced his 
Freemasonry before two witnesses, and received the last 
sacraments. The nephew observing that the pretended 
friends of his uncle were not quitting his bedside — the 
money was in the Irishman's trunk — remained near the 
corpse. But under pretence that he gave himself up to 
drink he was thrown into prison and loaded with irons. 
The same day four of the principal personages of the 
town and the heads of the Masonic Lodge came to me 
and said, the deceased having been a Catholic, they were 
anxious that I should perform the burial service with 
all due pomp, considering his wealth, and that the 
entire Lodge, with its insignia, would assist at the cere- 
mony. Having no wish to discuss a question of profane 
interest that nowise concerned me, I replied that I was 
ready to impart all due solemnity to the service under 
the circumstances, but that I could not admit the Lodge 
into my church, if they bore the emblems of a society 
condemned by the Canons of the Church. I added, too, 
that this demonstration of the Lodge was neither con- 
sistent nor becoming, as the deceased had renounced Free- 
masonry in the presence of witnesses. But those gentle- 
men answered that they were the only competent judges 
of what was becoming in this business, and that, freely 
or by force, they would have the burial according to 
their belief. Seeing the conversation assumed the form 
of menace, I replied in a similar tone. 

" You are aware, gentlemen, from the history of 



236 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the sheriff and his dogs, that I will not be bullied ; 
I am master in my own house ; the church is my 
domain, and not public property ; no one can enter 
it against my will ; in matters of right and duty, I shall 
never yield, especially to force ; and take my word for 
it, that no Freemason with his emblems shall enter into 
the church : he or I shall fall in the attempt. I know 
the ways of the country too well to be ignorant, that 
the day I should waver in the discharge of my duty 
would be only the first of a series of insults and 
outrages to myself ; and I respect my coat too much 
to dishonour it by mean or cowardly conduct." 

"But what is to be done then?" they replied, in a 
milder tone. — " Listen to me. I only see two means 
of accomplishing your wishes in accordance with eccle- 
siastical discipline ; and rest assured that I do not act 
from caprice, but from a sense of duty. Were I to 
yield to your demands, I might possibly secure your 
friendship. In any case, I would have the remuneration 
attendant on this ceremony, while, in refusing, I make 
for myself enemies of the most influential persons of the 
town, and deprive myself of a pecuniary aid which 
would not come amiss. Now, then, let this be your 
course. Come to the church without the badges of 
your society, and I shall allow you in ; for I am not 
bound to inquire into personal character before ad- 
mission into the temple. Satan himself might come, 
were he so minded, as I am not obliged to know his 
features in order to keep him out. Should this expe- 
dient not meet with your approval, you can go in 
procession in due time from the corpse-house to the 
cemetery, where I shall be present also to bless the 



LIBERTY OF ACTION. MAGISTRACY. 



237 



grave. Thus I shall have satisfied my conscience, and 
the deceased will not be deprived of the prayers of the 
Church." This last expedient was adopted as the most 
conciliatory, and we parted friends as before. 

In the United States, as in Europe, every man is at 
liberty to choose what profession he will ; but examina- 
tions, diplomas, and certificates of capability are things 
unknown there. Each one can at any moment abandon 
commerce to become judge, physician, barrister, states- 
man, or even minister of religion. If his new pro- 
fession is not lucrative enough, or fails in its charms, he 
abandons it for another ; and sometimes he is engaged 
in several at the same time, especially in the new States 
of the Union. The consequence is that the judges, bar- 
risters, physicians, representatives, and ministers of re- 
ligion, are for the most part incredibly ignorant. When 
they enter on their functions they study, as they can, 
some easy elementary work on their duties, and then 
imagine themselves thoroughly instructed, an illusion 
far more dangerous than simple ignorance. Thus, 
those who have to place themselves in such hands for 
any business whatever, do so only at their imminent 
peril. 

The magistracy is far from giving adequate guarantees 
for the security of the public ; and in criminal matters 
it is barefaced as it is revolting. Let the criminal be 
an American, and though he were the worst ruffian in 
the town he is let off scot-free, with a mere promise to 
pay a sum of money, which of course he never pays. 
Should the crime be of too glaring a nature to escape 
punishment, the perpetrator, be he robber or murderer, 
gets off with imprisonment, a mockery in its duration ; 



238 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



and he is often enabled to evade all punishment by 
leaving the town which has been the theatre of his crime. 
This shameless partiality of the American judges is the 
best justification of Lynch- law. And hence this Dra- 
conian code is in full force in all the new States of the 
Union. As to Germans, Irish, and Mexicans, the civil 
law is enforced in their cases with all its rigour. Even 
frequently, where the crime remained to be proved, 
they would in the first instance be thrown into prison 
in irons, there to await their sentence, or rather their 
condemnation, in which the sentence most generally is 
terminated. 

Towards the Irish and Mexicans excessive rigour used 
to be employed, savouring glaringly of bigotry and 
religious hate, which required no stimulus in a sentiment 
of cowardly cruelty towards the weak, by whom retali- 
ation was impossible. I sa.w at Brownsville Mexicans 
whom the sheriff was flogging to death with his ox-hide 
lash. They were bound, half-naked, their arms extended 
across the prison door, and then scourged on the sides 
and loins with the most brutal violence. To save the 
expense of their support, pending sentence, they were 
not sent to prison, but were sent back untried, having 
their frames lacerated with stripes. Some died from 
the effects of these barbarities. 

I could never comprehend the Mexican's submission, 
supporting, as he did, at once the cruelty and the con- 
tempt of a nation which he sovereignly detested, had I not 
been so often the witness of his incredible nonchalance 
and imperturbable meekness. In these badly-organised 
regions, the Mexican might have an easy vengeance on 
his persecutors, who are quite the minority on the Texian 
frontiers ; but vengeance is not in his heart ; he would 



PARTIALITY OF AMERICAN JUDGES. 



239 



rather forget an injury than take the trouble of aveng- 
ing it. 

Still there is no lack of courts of justice. Some are 
stationary and periodical in their sessions ; others are 
itinerant, and courts of appeal. Every village, yclept 
town, has its magistrates for civil and criminal cases. 
Over them is a more important tribunal, which de- 
spatches annually a Judge of Appeal to the principal 
places of the country of Texas. The man that came to 
Brownsville was a large handsome Yankee, neither over 
unpolite nor unreasonable. He even decided equitably 
enough in the rare moments of his sobriety. I met him 
one day, in a tavern, surrounded by Americans, who were 
bidding him welcome, glass in hand, and I heard him 
propose the following toast in a thick voice:—" To jus- 
tice modified by circumstances. " The maudlin auditors 
hailed the words with raptures of applause. After this 
successful feat he went, as best he could, to dispense 
"justice modified by circumstances." 

From judges of this stamp, people can hardly expect 
" Just Justice" and hence they dispense it for themselves. 
When drunkenness is the only defect of a judge, you 
may hope, according to the adage " In vino Veritas" that 
out of many sentences, some few may be fair, and yours 
among the number. But when to drunkenness is added 
ignorance of the law, of the nature of a contract, of the 
general rules on which property and society itself rest 
secure ; and when to drunkenness and this ignorance too, 
is further added venality, fear of the strong hand, and 
party feeling, then it is only a Mexican, a simpleton, 
or a coward, that would appeal to law for justice. The 
Americans, and the Europeans who know how things 
stand in these still savage regions, dispense with magis- 



240 TEXAS AND MEXICO. 

trates ; and the dispensers of justice never interfere in 
the disputes of such people, knowing well the conse- 
quence of their intermeddling. 

Property questions were in Brownsville, as in the 
greater part of Texas, the prolific source of quarrels and 
litigation. In Texas, and especially towards the frontiers, 
when you wish to acquire a territory, the simplest and 
shortest method is to select one at will near some river 
or water-course, and then to install yourself without 
further formality. You can take chance for the right 
of prescription afterwards. The greater part of the 
Kentucky Americans, and of those of the Eastern parts 
w r ho have established themselves in Texas, are proprietors 
by no other right. If need be, the pistol, the carbine, 
and the bowie-knife establish the right. 

The title of first occupier has an irresistible value in 
these countries. It cannot be denied, however, that an 
incontestable title is a thing to be found with the greatest 
difficulty. Those of Spanish origin are reckoned the 
safest ; yet do they too fail to be respected. After 
the annexation of Texas to the United States, speculators 
furnished themselves with Spanish titles, true or forged 
as they might be, to dispose of, both in Europe and in the 
United States, immense tracts of land that they had 
never seen, and which had been already long occupied. 
Besides this, the American government distributed three 
hundred and twenty acres of land to emigrants, and six 
hundred and forty to school-masters, ministers of religion, 
and married colonists, established in Texas before 1847. 
After the Mexican war, it made a new distribution to 
volunteers and soldiers : but, as the registries of the 
civil administration had been kept very negligently, it 
happened that among the lands thus distributed, and 



ELECTIONEERING IN THE STATES. 



241 



considered as free, no small share had already its legiti- 
mate possessors, and others were uninhabitable from 
their situation. Then the new arrivals spread around 
the country, settling down wherever they pleased ; and 
hence multitudes of law suits, so confused and inter- 
minable, were left to the discretion of judges who 
decided rather according to the persons of the litigants 
than to the justice of the cause. > 

Viewing the manner in which the Texian judges are 
elected, we cannot be surprised that impartiality is not 
considered by them a duty. Towards the close of my resi- 
dence, an important case occurred, and made much noise. 
It was nothing less than to know whose was the site of 
the town. This case was to be heard after the election of 
the new judges. The validity of title was quite a se- 
condary consideration in an affair of such importance ; 
all depended on the number of voters in favour of one 
or other of the canvassing parties. Hence no means were 
left untried on each side to obtain votes ; and we wit- 
nessed a renewal of those singular and tragi-comic 
scenes that stir up the population of the United States 
on occasions of important elections. Liberty in voting 
is, however, recognised in the new as in the older States, 
but everywhere is it rendered null and a sham, by force, 
intimidation and corruption. 

Tables are placed in the streets, garnished with bottles, 
full of whiskey, which is liberally distributed to such as 
take a ticket bearing the name of a certain candidate. 
Those who had formed no opinion, drank freely in both 
camps. Both sides had their colours, one red, the other 
blue, and no man was without his colour either on his hat 
or in his button-hole. The horses and the dogs bore their 
colours also, the former on their manes, the latter on their 

R 



242 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



tails. Even Mexicans who took no interest in either 
side, and had merely come on commercial business, were 
supplied with the party colours. Things were carried 
so far that a supply of palm-leaf hats was procured, 
decorated with the distinguishing hues, and given gratis 
to such as accepted the tickets. Then came the pro- 
cessions, red and blue ; and now the question was which 
party would have the longest and most splendid cortege. 
As a natural consequence, you might meet every evening 
in the streets numbers of electors drunk and battered ; 
and not rarely might you recognise among their number 
the future magistrates for whom so much fuss was 
made, and so many bottles emptied. 

Medical science is not much better represented in the 
United States than the magistracy. The doctor most in 
vogue in Brownsville was a Yankee, who in the time of 
the Mexican war had to perform the amputation of a 
leg. He knew not how to set about the matter, neither 
had he any surgical instruments, wherefore he got a 
butcher's saw, and with horrible skill began to saw this 
leg as he would a fagot of wood, though he had never 
even assisted at an amputation. The patient expired in 
the middle of this torturing operation. When Browns- 
ville was founded, this doctor thought it desirable to 
become porter — a lucrative but tiresome occupation; 
but he soon returned to pestle and mortar. He killed so 
many, and so quickly too, that he had again to renounce 
his profession ; and yet by force of intrigue and audacity, 
he got himself named representative to the Congress of 
Austin. The session at an end, he returns to Browns- 
ville, and, unable to vanquish his fatal penchant for his 
early occupation, he becomes doctor again, after conning 
over some treatises on medicine. His therapeutic ac- 



A FOOL OR A DOCTOR 243 

quirements were of such an order, that for a woman who 
died of consumption, he prescribed a strong dose of 
sulphuric acid, " in order to bum the pulmonary tubercles." 
Two days after, I buried the poor woman. For a disease 
of the bowels he ordered injections of melted Spanish wax. 
His remedies, as well as the exploits of the sheriff, 
afforded amusement; but the unfortunate patients could 
not be amused by them. Yet was he a la mode, and 
took so great a fancy to titles and offices, that at the 
next election he stood for the vacant judgeship. 



R 2 



244 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



CHAP. III. 

A WORD OF DOUBLE MEANING. THE MINISTER, AND HIS THREE 

UNMARRIED DAUGHTERS. — A RENEGADE. GENERAL AND INDI- 
VIDUAL LIBERTY IN THE UNITED STATES. DEMOCRACY. THE 

FRONTIER MEXICANS. — VISIT TO MATAMOROS. SOUVENIRS OF OLD 

MEXICO. MEXICAN LIFE.—- THE RANCHEROS. TROUBADOURS. — 

POESY OF THE PEOPLE. — RELIGION OF THE RANCHEROS. — RELI- 
GIOUS CEREMONIES AT THE FRONTIERS MARRIAGE OF THE LAST 

SCION OF THE MONTEZ UMAS. 

Having spoken of the magistracy and medical science in 
the new States of the Union, particularly in Texas, I am 
bound to say a few words about my opponents, the 
Protestant ministers of the frontier, without fear of being 
censured for partiality. The individuals of whom I am 
going to speak are no eccentric exceptions of a par- 
ticular locality ; they are the types of a class in all these 
countries. 

I think I have already observed, in the early part of 
this journal, that the Methodists and Presbyterians con- 
stitute the largest sects among the Americans. Their 
ministers are likewise the most ignorant and the most in- 
tolerant. Those whom I met at Brownsville were hardly 
better adepts at theology than was the doctor, whose 
feats I have recorded, in pathology and therapeutics. 
The Methodist minister, for want of an audience, left 
the frontier shortly after my arrival at Brownsville. 
The Presbyterian was hardly more fortunate ; for he 
alienated the minds of his co-religionists by equivocal 
conduct in a rather serious case. For want of a church he 



CLERICAL DUPLICITY. 



245 



had to preach in his own house, which was constructed of 
very slight boards. One day he proposed to his hearers 
to erect a brick building large enough to accommodate 
all the Presbyterians of the town ; the project was 
agreed to ; and for its prosecution he received three 
thousand dollars. But instead of building a chapel, as 
his parishioners expected, he made himself a very 
elegant house, in which himself and his large family 
were lodged most comfortably. The word house had a 
double meaning which the Presbyterians did not forget 
to him. Henceforth he was completely abandoned— his 
family and a few friends now constituting his entire 
auditory. His discourses were for the most part 
diatribes against the Pope and Papacy, subjects highly 
relished by the Presbyterians, as already observed. At 
the time of the siege of Matamoros, of which by and 
bye, he remained two entire hours on his knees on the 
roof of his new house, his hands stretched forth like 
those of Moses on the Mount, imploring the protection 
of heaven on the arms of the invaders. Notwithstand- 
ing his hatred of Catholic priests, he never was hostile 
to me personally ; whenever I met him in the street, 
I saluted him, and he politely returned my greeting. 

One of his confreres, more lucky than himself in 
pecuniary matters, had three daughters, who for years 
past were of an age to be married. The minister seeing 
no one propose for their hand, determined to wait no 
longer in the matter of their settlement in the world. 
With this view, he put in execution an idea essentially 
American. One Sunday he preached on the subject of 
marriage, amplifying the text in Genesis, " Increase and 
multiply." He proclaimed to his audience that this was 
a Divine precept and not a counsel. He descanted with 

E 3 



246 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



eloquence and warmth on the bliss of the hymeneal 
state, and ended his sermon by offering his three 
daughters, with three thousand dollars of fortune for 
each, to whomsoever would espouse them. He added 
that he would receive the names of the candidates after 
service ; and that his choice would fall on those who 
would furnish the surest guarantee of moral character. 
A wag of an Irishman who happened to be present 
(they are always everywhere), did not wait for the time 
prescribed by the minister to make his voice heard, 
but asked him to put his name on the list for two. 
The meeting burst into laughter ; and there was no 
rival found to the ambitious aspirant. 

There was also at Brownsville a renegade who kept a 
school for boys and girls. He received from the Bible 
Society of New York an annual sum of five hundred 
dollars, to distribute bibles and pamphlets abusive of 
Catholicism among the Mexican population. Though 
I bore him no ill-will, he treated me with no kindred 
feeling. He hated me by instinct, and proved his hatred 
at the first opportunity. Several pious Catholics came 
to complain that this renegade taught Protestantism in 
his school, and was striving to corrupt the faith of the 
Catholic children. I waited upon him, and begged that 
he would confine his instructions within the domain of 
letters, otherwise, I said, I should be obliged in con- 
science to warn the parents, and thus the Catholic 
children would be all removed. He gave me a very 
ungracious reception, and went the length of menace. 
The families were consequently warned, and the children 
were sent to another school, taught by a Mexican. My 
friend, quite enraged as he became, went to the public 
market-place on the next Sunday, and held forth against 



AMERICAN FREEDOM. 



247 



all priests in general, and myself in particular, — becom- 
ing eloquent on idolatry, the inquisition, and what not in 
this strain. He continued his sermons a month, and 
got them printed. At length, however, he lapsed into 
silence, for his harangues had no effect. I was liked in 
my parish. From the day of my arrival, I was placed 
on a footing of freedom and independence that secured 
me the esteem of the people ; hence it was no easy matter 
for him to do me harm. As to that, indeed, Protestant 
ministers are no great obstacle to the propagation of 
Catholicism in Texas ; for they are always too violent 
against us missionaries, and violence is never an effica- 
cious means. 

If isolated individuals present striking types, inter- 
esting as studies of manners, the general character and 
spirit of the population are not a whit less curious, as 
they reveal themselves in all their naked reality in public 
assemblies and political discussions. 

In America, as you are free in the choice of a pro- 
fession, so are you in the expression of political opinion. 
Hence, since the invasion of Cuba by the Americans, 
under General Lopez, agitators have multiplied demon- 
strations, and pushed on enlistments. In Texas these 
manoeuvres were quite easy ; for individuals ready for 
enrolment for any expedition, and for casting the die of 
life in the hope of pillage, have been always numerous. 
There have been at Brownsville several meetings, where 
all Americans were invited to pronounce on the great 
question of the hour. Some few, moderate and upright 
in their views, endeavoured to speak against the illegality 
of this usurpation ; but a score of pistols were aimed at 
their heads, to keep their tongues more quiet. 

At the risk of offending the blind and prejudiced 

r 4 



248 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



admirers of the United States, I affirm, with those 
writers who have studied impartially the history of 
that country, from the date of its independence to our 
own days, that, dating from the presidency of General 
Jackson, liberty has not reigned in the United States 
but in a very limited and relative way. The republic, 
as founded by Washington, can only be recognised in 
its outward forms. It is not a democracy that rules — 
it is demagogy. The opinion and will of the masses, 
ignorant, vicious, intolerant, passionate as they are, 
sway by pressure, violence, corruption and lawlessness. 
It is the blind masses that are everywhere masters at 
elections, and their vote, ever guided by a name or an 
idea, is never bestowed on probity and intelligence in 
matters of government. Hence, from the country 
magistrate to the President of the Union, every place is 
the prize of a vote. Vice reigns uncontrolled ; you 
would say it was protected, especially in the new States ; 
but there is very little personal security for the peaceful 
man, for the virtuous and the independent, in his 
political and religious opinions. Americans must have 
a clear stage for themselves, but to others they would 
not extend the smallest latitude. What American 
would dare to say to his countrymen, "You are in creed 
the most superstitious people on earth ; in politics the 
most inconsistent, if not intolerant ; in opinion the most 
despotic ; in science, arts, and civilisation, the most 
behind ; in morals the most corrupt ; in liberty the 
slave of a popular despotism ; towards your black and 
coloured slaves, the most pitiless and barbarous ? " No 
citizen would now dare to use this language, though 
many believe it; for those who, seeing the work of 
Washington falling to pieces, have striven to point out 



YANKEE ITCHING FOR ARISTOCRACY. 



249 



to their countrymen by word and pen the abyss towards 
which they were rushing, have dearly paid for their 
upright patriotism. Persecutions, blows, fire, have been 
their reward. 

What a strange anomaly ! Europeans, political his- 
torians and novelists, who have never lived in the 
United States, have said a good deal about the demo- 
cracy of the country. If it exist, it is not the fault of the 
Americans, for they do their best to become aristocrats 
themselves. Equality is much less palatable there than 
people think in Europe. Take at random, even in the 
new States, on a steamer or in the street, any two men, 
and ask each what he is, you will find him captain, 
major, colonel, general, judge, esquire (Heaven knows 
of what). None will be a simple citizen. 

These are the impressions that will be made on keen 
conscientious observers, who may study the manners 
and character of the people with a view to be in- 
structed. Rest assured that those who observe things 
in a different light have fixed notions formed before- 
hand, or else have lived too short a time in the country 
to master its true character. American manners, as 
illustrated in Brownsville, did not engross my exclusive 
attention. The picture that I have drawn of this 
singular population, a picture, alas ! but too true, was a 
forewarning to me of the difficulties which I had to 
encounter in the discharge of my ministry. Side by 
side with the Yankees, there was, as I have said, a very 
numerous Mexican population. Among the frontier 
Mexicans I found a stolid ignorance to remove, reli- 
gious views to be modified and ceremonies to be purified 
from every heterogeneous alloy opposed to the solemnity 
of Catholic worship. The task was no easy one, for the 



250 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



people stuck fast to their usages, which had in their 
favour all the strength of long observance. Yet was I 
not discouraged. I knew that the Mexican people, not- 
withstanding their faults and indifference, are docile and 
intelligent, and that if Heaven deigned to bless my efforts 
and fatigues, I might be the instrument of diffusing some 
little happiness over this corner of the earth, to which 
Providence had sent me. I knew that with God we can 
do all things ; without Him, nothing. I reckoned on His 
aid to overcome the obstacles that stood in the way of 
the pure light of the Gospel ; and my confidence in 
God was not vain. With a certain sweetness of 
manner, and a toleration of whatsoever was free or 
permissible ; an impartiality and charity, in my rela- 
tions with those of different religious persuasions, 
caste, or character ; with energy and firmness in the 
discharge of my duty, I soon perceived that there was a 
means of taming and bending all these different 
natures, half savage and wholly ignorant though they 
were. 

The great bulk of the Americans who live on the 
banks of the Rio Grande, from its mouth to Passo del 
Norte, even those of the towns, are of Indian or Indo- 
Mexican origin. The Spanish race is quite in a 
minority on those frontiers. They are of middle height ; 
their features are for the most part regular, sometimes 
distinguished and noble ; their eyes are large and bright, 
their hair long, black, curled, and frizzly, their skin 
brown, but soft, their teeth very white and beautiful, 
their hands and feet very small, their visage round. 
They are mild, passive, and apathetic. The Mexican's 
chief passion is his horse, the play, and the dance ; cock 
and bull-fi£ktin£ are his delight. Among the amateur 



MEXICAN LIFE AND CHARACTER. 



251 



taureadors are found even women, who know how 
to bring down the bull with dexterity, grace, and bold- 
ness. I saw three of them at Matamoros, whom no 
small number of bulls valiantly prostrated had ren- 
dered almost celebrities. 

To obtain a more accurate idea of Mexican life, I 
visited Matamoros, which is situated in Mexico opposite 
Brownsville. My ministry might one day or other 
bring me in contact with the parish priest, the autho- 
rities, and the inhabitants, among whom are reckoned 
several French and American merchants. Matamoros 
is not far from the river, and is the most important 
town of the frontier. I begged the Mexican consul at 
Brownsville to act as guide and introducer. This 
worthy representative of his country placed himself 
without demur at my disposal, accompanying his good 
services with a cigarette, which I quietly puffed while 
I asked him questions about the persons that I intended 
to visit. A few strokes of an oar took us to the 
opposite bank, where a shed is erected as a shelter for 
the custom house agents and some soldiers. These 
soldiers were dressed in brown, and wore a police cap, 
which admirably harmonised with their yellow, round, 
and beardless faces, and gave their mien more of the 
savage than of the soldier. The officers were well clad 
and had a very distingue air. These soldiers sleep 
nearly the entire day in a grove of the palma Christi 
planted near the shed. Judging from this specimen of 
Mexican soldiery, I was not surprised at the success 
of the American arms directed against them ; but the 
cavalry have a more martial appearance. They have 
the stamp of being congenial to the soil, a feature not 
the least important or interesting of its character. 



252 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



My heart bounded with joy as I trod this wonderful 
soil, abounding in silver and gold, blessed with a climate 
the most delicious on earth and a vegetation the most 
luxuriant. I felt all the poetry of youth spring up 
within me, inspired by the memory of the Spanish con- 
quests in this rich and beautiful land. Imagination 
carried me back to the days of Cortez and good Las 
Casas, the apostle of the Indians, whose woes he so ably 
pleaded and bitterly bewailed. I repeopled, in thought, 
Palenca, the city of the desert, the ruins of which, dis- 
covered in the midst of a virgin forest, not quite a 
century ago, still cover a surface of eight leagues ; and 
Mitla, the city of the dead, hardly inferior in extent to 
Palenca. I saw crowds from Cicimecos, Toltecs, Aztecs, 
and Tlaxcallians going to Papeutla, to Teocalli, and other 
immense temples of Yucatan, of Teotihuacan, of Ana- 
huac, of Cholula, and of Tenuctitlan (now called Mexico), 
to offer sacrifices to Yiltzlipultzi, the supreme God ; 
to Tlaloch the god of vengeance, and their Neptune; to 
Ametochtli, their Bacchus, who carried on his head a 
vessel of mortar-shape into which they poured wine ; 
to Quetzalcoat, their Mercury; to Matlalmy, goddess of 
water, who was represented in an undress of azure hue ; 
to Tescatlipuca, god of providence, who wore glasses to 
see better with. But empires are blotted out and 
disappear like individuals. New times, new manners. 
Feather cinctures and pearl collars have been replaced 
by a less primitive costume. Time carries off every day 
another stone from these immense ruins of a people 
itself not less immense than they, whose ancient civi- 
lisation has left gigantic manuscripts of marble and 
granite, which defy the eye and mind of modern science. 
While my imagination thus carried me back to the days 



\ 



MATAMOROS AND ITS INHABITANTS. 253 

when Mexican currency was cacao-nut, I was seated in 
a vehicle. Several were stationed in this spot, and two 
light and spirited horses whisked us over the short mile 
that separated us from the town in a few minutes and 
deposited us in the Plaza-Major. 

This place is a perfect square, embellished with a 
garden in the centre, and encompassed with a double 
range of large Chinese lilacs forming a pleasing prome- 
nade. The western side of this square is formed by the 
church, a modern edifice, vast in its proportions, but pre- 
senting nothing remarkable in structure. Opposite the 
church are the buildings and offices of the Ayuntamiento. 
The houses, like those of the other two sides of the 
square, are simple in their architecture, of red brick, 
two stories high, and furnished with an iron balcony. 
The roofs are flat, forming a terrace which serves rather 
as a place for drying clothes than for family gathering. 
Behind the houses are gardens more or less extensive, 
where the orange-tree, the pomegranate-tree, the peach- 
tree, the palm-tree, the fig-tree grow. The streets are 
wide and at right angles. 

During the greater part of the day all seems a desert. 
The shops are half closed and every one remains within 
doors. But at the first sound of the Ange^us, a little 
before sunset, the windows and doors are thrown open, 
the streets fill, the ladies appear on the balconies in robes 
of bright muslin, the Plaza-Major is crowded with prome- 
naders who saunter about, chat, laugh, and smoke till 
midnight. All is animation ; the merry laugh and 
joyous word re-echo all around ; the rich man on his 
balcony, the poor on his cabin sill, feel happy alike to 
live and to shake off the inaction of the day, while the 
cigarette sends up its tiny cloud in every direction. 



254 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Everywhere do chocolate and coffee with little cakes 
present their allurements with the balm of the evening 
air. The chatting becomes more noisy ; and it would 
seem that people wish to make up for lost time, for dur- 
ing the day little is spoken. You would say that the sun 
stays the words on the lips and deprives of the power 
to pronounce them. The conversations turn mostly on 
poetry, on religion, on love, horses, music and dancing. 
Scandal and politics engage but little this sequestered 
people, favoured with a sky the most beautiful, a climate 
the mildest in the world. 

My first visit was to the parish priest, a charming young 
man, who employed his private fortune and the revenues of 
his parish, for the succour of the poor and the completion 
of his church. He received me with warmth and cordi- 
ality, and offered me his services with a flowing heart. 
The prefect and civil authorities also loaded me w T ith polite 
attentions. I ended my visits by paying one to the com- 
mander of the frontier Mexican forces, General Avalos, 
who had then an immense influence in the government of 
the country. This man, of whom I shall say more by 
and bye, was enormously corpulent. He seemed to me 
false and crafty, while his person inspired me with 
aversion, and subsequent events proved the justice of 
my first impressions. 

On both banks of the Rio Grande, the Mexicans who 
do not live in towns or sell merchandise are rancher os 
(farmers). Ranch o, which means farm, is often taken for 
a number of farms or a village. The country people are 
just as indolent as their countrymen of town. They 
have all the characteristics and all the defects of an 
infant people. Voluptuousness is surely their damning 
vice ; but it is not so much the effect of depraved 



RANCHERO LIFE. 



255 



morals, as of ignorance and effeminacy. I could never 
know how a ranchero lived, for he labours little or 
none ; the very shadow of labour overpowers him, and he 
comprehends not activity, save in pleasures. In other 
respects, he is very frugal ; under this mild and temperate 
sky, he can sleep wherever he will ; in open air, under 
the shade of the fig tree, or mesquite tree, more agree- 
ably than under the shelter of a roof. He lives on 
coffee, chocolate, tortillas, small flat cakes baked on the 
ashes or on heated flags ; and on tassajo, beef sun- 
dried and cut up into slices which keep a long time. 
The rich rancheros enjoy the luxury of rice, spices, 
lamb dressed with dried raisins, sometimes even the 
tarn ales, a favourite dish of the Mexicans, a mixt ure 
of chopped meat, vegetables, spices, and dried fruits, 
rolled up in the shape of a cigar and dressed in a maize 
leaf. At Tampico and in the greater number of the 
towns of the interior, young girls prepare and sell 
tamales in the markets. After the mid-day repast, the 
Mexicans have their siesta, which lasts according to the 
season several hours. 

When the ranchero is not either resting or amusing 
himself, he mounts his horse and canters over the 
plains and through the woods, to see his herds, to visit 
his friends, to buy provisions, or assist at a feast, a 
baptism, a marriage, or join in the fandango ; but 
the ranchero never walks. Had he only half a mile 
to go, he does so on horseback. His horse, of which 
he is very proud, is his inseparable companion. He is 
content with a wretched hut for his residence, while he 
decorates his saddle and bridle with gold and silver 
ornaments. At home he is all filth, mounted on his 
horse he wears the gayest attire. Then he dons his broad- 



256 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



brimmed hat, lined with green and trimmed with an 
edging or chain of gold. He wears a clean embroidered 
shirt, and blue velvet trousers with broad facings of 
black, beneath which, through the extremities, may be 
seen his wide white drawers, while a blue scarf of china 
crape encircles his waist, and huge silver spurs clank at 
his heels. The ranchero tills the soil to some extent, 
but herds of oxen, horses, goats, and sheep make up 
the bulk of his fortune. This kind of income costs him 
little labour ; and therefore does he like it so much. The 
pasture lands are rich, fair, and numerous ; and the cattle 
roam over them at large. From time to time the ranchero 
goes to see them, to know what horse he may sell at the 
next fair in order to buy dresses for his children's god- 
mothers — what oxen will furnish most tassajo, and 
what lamb will meet the expense of a marriage or 
baptism -feast. 

Many of the rancheros, without the slightest instruc- 
tion in music, play the guitar or mandoline with no less 
taste than talent. With this accompaniment sometimes 
they sing their native melodies and romances, which 
relate chiefly to love subjects, the beauties of tropical 
nature, or the memories of their forefathers. There are 
several ballads of the old Spanish troubadours still in 
great vogue. It was often my pleasure to hear the 
rancheros sing in the evenings near the hut where I 
was taking rest, during my excursions in the solitudes 
of the interior. Their voices are sweet and their songs 
racy with the poetry of nature. The greater part of their 
nights they pass in dancing, singing, relating fantastic 
stories as history, while they smoke their cigarettes be- 
neath some favourite tree. During the long winter even- 
ings, while sitting on the prairie grass, I have obtained 



SENTIMENTAL MEXICAN. 



257 



some scraps of precious interesting information listening 
to some of these narrators. You still meet in this part of 
the frontiers a kind of itinerant troubadour who goes 
from rancho to rancho, singing to the accompaniment 
of the mandoline, setting the young folk to dance, telling 
about all he has heard and seen in his travels, and as 
payment receiving hospitality and a few reals. 

What chiefly characterises the country Mexican is 
extreme meekness of disposition — apathy, listlessness, 
carried to amiability. You also discern in his character 
a most lively appreciation of the beauties of nature. On 
a fine summer night I was reclining on my hammock 
beneath a gallery of boards and wild osier which I had 
built up against the presbytery. From my hammock I 
could gaze on a pretty garden which I had laid out dur- 
ing my leisure hours ; and to the rear of this garden I 
could also observe that of Fort Brown. Isidore, an old 
Mexican soldier and my man of all work — cook, butler, 
sacristan — came and seated himself beside my hammock, 
and while with cool nonchalance he purled clouds of 
azure smoke from his cigarette, he in a loud tone, and 
heedless whether I slept or not, directed towards me 
the following monologue on the beauties of the heavens 
and the earth. " See, Seiior Don Emanuel, what a 
charming night it is ! what sweet mellow temperature ! 
what pure and balmy air! what silence in all nature ! 
how this silence of night ravishes my soul ! Do you 
hear the cry of the widow (a long-tailed bird), as she 
Hies along and flutters in the distance ? Whither 
does she roam, poor bird ? Why does she not sleep 
beneath the thick broad shade of the ebony tree ? 
Mystery of God ! " added he, and lapsed into a pro- 
found reverie. In an instant he resumed : " Do you 

s 



258 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



see those myriads of stars whose twinkling splendour 
lights the plains like the timid doubtful twilight? And 
those majestic palm trees, whose graceful branches 
gently poise themselves against the clear blue sky, 
seeming as if at night time they bear fruit of fire, sus- 
pended from every branch? And those stars that fall 
and fade away, leaving behind them a light narrow 
cascade of diamonds ? Oh ! how wonderful are the 
works of God !" 

This was not the first time I had thus heard those 
poor people speak. Yet how few of them can read or 
write. I was wrapt in amazement and delight at the 
poetic rapture of my old soldier ; indeed I could not 
have conveyed my own feelings better, at the view of 
this picture, at once so simple and sublime, of one of the 
most charming nights at the tropic. 

Novel writers and tourists have greatly exaggerated 
the faults of the Mexicans. These gentlemen get up 
adventures at will ; stories of robbers and bandits, 
from whose hands, however, they always escape safe 
and sound ; intrigues wherein the poignard and a dark 
mystery play their parts. Such things as these no 
doubt impart a certain interest to a recital ; but truth 
obliges me to say, that these dramatic stories are not 
to be relied on. It is true there are many robbers 
among the poorer Mexicans, but they rob from neces- 
sity, and do so in a very clumsy way. As to all that 
people talk about assassinations in Mexico, it is charac- 
terised at once by exaggeration and inaccuracy. A 
murder is commonly the consequence of what begins in a 
playful quarrel. The vengeance of an injured husband 
does not arm him with the knife, for he is no jealous 
husband, but allows his helpmate as much liberty as 



THE RANCHEROS. 



259 



lie assumes for himself. At Brownsville, and along the 
entire Texian frontier, murder is very common ; but if 
the Americans have just claim to the credit of half of 
them, and if we only reflect on how they have treated the 
Mexicans, we shall be rather surprised that the Mexican's 
vengeance is so easily satisfied. As to crime, however, 
we need only say, that neither Europe nor America need 
be jealous of Mexico. 

As to religion, the rancheros had only vague ideas 
about it, with some obscure recollections. They hardly 
knew more than two sacraments, baptism and matri- 
mony, and they made no scruple of dispensing them- 
selves from the latter, while they valued confession only 
at the hour of death. Marriage was divided into two 
distinct ceremonies, one of which, corresponding with our 
espousals, was called las tomadas de las manos, the taking 
of hands. This was the simple marriage. The other 
was the more important and definitive act, called velacion. 
At this ceremony the spouses are covered with a veil, 
and the priest recites prayers over them. The spouses, 
their parents, and the witnesses carry lighted tapers, 
called vela, in allusion to the very name of the cere- 
mony. Then the bridegroom deposits on a plate a 
few coins ; the priest blesses them, and gives them 
back to him, and he hands them to the bride as the 
price of her liberty. In reality, this ceremony is 
regarded by the rancheros as the true sacrament of 
marriage. Frequently married people called on me to 
marry them to others, pretending that they had been 
united only by the " taking of hands." 

The funerals of children were always accompanied 
with public rejoicings. The angelito (little angel), as 
they called the remains of the young person, was 

s 2 



260 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



dressed in white and ornamented with flowers; and some- 
times wings were added, with a crown of gilt paper. 
The dressing ended, the remains were placed on a chair 
or under a table, covered with white linen, and strewn 
with votive flowers. A friend or parent took the light 
burthen on his head or shoulders, while a procession 
was formed to the church, and preceded by a band com- 
posed of a big drum, a violin, and a clarionet, which 
pla}^ed polkas, waltzes, and contradanses. The pro- 
cession was followed by a crowd of urchins, pelting 
squibs and rockets, and laughing like young demons 
as their missives fell on the parents or their invited 
friends. 

But if neither the belief nor the practice of the 
rancheros was without reproach, the fault was not 
entirely theirs. Before the war of Mexican Independence, 
the most isolated villages and inhabitants had visits 
from the Spanish missionaries regularly enough, though 
the great distance made those visits both few and far 
between. These missionaries could only impart the 
most elementary instruction, accommodating them- 
selves to the understanding of their little flocks, so as to 
strike the senses by the form of worship, rather than 
open the mind by instructions more complete. The 
ceremonies of the Church used to borrow from time 
and place certain peculiar features to which those 
people attached great interest and importance. It is 
much easier to go to church and join a procession than 
to reform one's life. As the Spanish missionaries 
ceased their visits, all pertaining to doctrine and mo- 
rality fell into the shade. Ignorance, indifference, the 
passions, soon made the lessons of the priest to be for- 
gotten ; but what struck the senses was more tenacious 



MONTEZUMAN BRIDE. 



261 



of its hold. The substance was lost in the form, and 
external practices, as is natural to the Mexicans, be- 
came the chief objects of attention — the most worthy of 
the affection of a poor people. This religious decadence 
was a sad sight ; but by God's grace aiding the energy of 
man, many obstacles are being overcome. My task at 
Brownsville, though more fatiguing, was not so irksome, 
however, as at Castroville. 

I had the honour to bless the marriage of the living 
descendant of Montezuma with a rich proprietor of the 
state of Cohahuila. She was twenty-four years old ; 
her features were quite handsome, very regular, noble, 
and withal sweet ; her gait easy and listless. The 
olden glory of her race revealed itself in her entire 
figure. I asked her some questions about her position. 
She told me she was an orphan, without a relative even 
to the remotest degree ; and that of all the wealth of 
her house nothing remained to her but some lands in 
Texas. These lands were of vast extent it is true ; but 
since the annexation of Texas to the United States, 
her right to proprietorship had been contested and 
assailed in a variety of ways. 

She had been offered 6000 dollars for her inheri- 
tance, and fearing to be stripped of all, she accepted 
this miserable sum, and married the man she loved. 
Such is the simple history of the last heir of a great 
name, of the last scion of that great and powerful 
monarch whose treasures knew no bounds, and who 
perished the victim of the cruel cupidity of the Spanish 
conquerors. She went with her husband to continue in 
obscurity, her existence unknown, indeed, to the world, 
but withal peaceful and happy. 

s 3 



262 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



CHAP. IV. 

A TOUR OF OBSERVATION. THE BANKS OF THE RIO GRANDE. 

REYNOSA REYNOSA-VIE JA. — AN ISRAELITISH BEDFELLOW. — RIO 

GRANDE CITY. PROJECTS. MEETING A RATTLE-SNAKE. — ROMA. 

THE ALAMO. THE BATHERS. MIER. EMBARRASSING PRESENTS. 

■ — A USEFUL APPARITION. DEPARTURE FROM ROMA. TETE-A-TETE 

WITH NEW INDIANS. CAMARGO. — A SURPRISE. RANCHERO 

MARRIAGE. SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP. THE AURORA IN A WOOD. 

A month after my arrival at Brownsville, having made 
some progress in speaking Spanish, I undertook a tour 
of observation among the populations scattered along 
both banks of the river. I had to penetrate northward 
as far as a small American settlement called Alamo, 
from Brownsville about three hundred miles. I em- 
barked on the steamboat Comanche, which was to ascend 
the river with merchandise for several settlements 
along its banks. 

The Kio Grande, as I have already said, takes its 
rise at the foot of the Sierra Verde, one of the two 
great southern ramifications of the Rocky Mountains. 
It drains and fertilises an immense valley for several 
hundred leagues in its southern course, and before dis- 
emboguing into the Gulf of Mexico, it makes a thousand 
windings. Sometimes, on occasions of great floods, 
the sand is carried down in masses, and opens for the 
waters new beds, while the old thus detached become 
lakelets, often very graceful in their aspect. The banks 
are flat, and more wild, indeed, than picturesque. 



TOUR OF OBSERVATION. 



263 



Some woodlands, rather sparse of trees ; tracts covered 
with long dry grass or reeds ; numbers of reeds ; some- 
times a tract of fine white sand, in which the scattered 
herds of cattle, that come to slake their thirst in the 
stream, lie half buried while they ruminate ; or steep, 
low banks, constantly eaten into by the water ; here 
and there the little hut of a ranchero, whence issued a 
thin spiral of white smoke ; such were the principal 
features that successively relieved the monotony of these 
cheerless solitudes. 

In the day time the heat was quite suffocating — we 
were smothered in an atmosphere of fire. In the 
evening we would take our mattresses to the after-deck, 
to enjoy the freshness of the night breeze. After 
three or four days of uninterrupted steaming, the boat 
stuck so effectually, that no exertion could get her off. 
The captain had to discharge her cargo, in order to 
lighten her, and set her afloat. All of us disembarked, 
and were obliged to pursue our journey by land. This 
mishap modified my itinerary in a rather singular way. 
To reach Alamo by land, I had to travel more in 
Mexico than Texas, for this part of the Texian frontier 
is quite destitute of roads. In Mexico, on the con- 
trary, you have still the old Spanish highways ; so that 
often the shortest and even the only route between 
two Texian ranchos is to cross the Rio Grande and 
travel the Mexican territory, and to recross the Rio 
Grande again near one's destination. Here, then, I 
was going to make one of those long journeys on horse- 
back, to which I had been so much accustomed during 
my first mission ; but in this I had fewer dangers and 
privations to encounter. 

s 4 



2G4 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



We first directed our course towards the Mexican 
hamlet of Keynosa. These small frontier towns present 
but little interest. The church of Reynosa is of stone, 
of oblong shape, having a massive steeple, square in 
form, and heavy-looking in construction. Some houses 
are built as in the time of Fernand Cortez, with adauhes, 
large bricks baked in the sun. Here we crossed the 
Rio Grande for Texas, where we secured horses in an 
American establishment called Edinburgh. 

Having taken a modest breakfast, we returned to 
Reynosa, the Spanish priest of which procured us a 
guide, and we continued our journey under a scorching 
sun. The road was lined sometimes with odoriferous 
trees and the perfumed wild vine ; sometimes it inter- 
sected an arid desert soil, or calcareous tracts, whose 
only vegetation was the cactus, the nopal, or certain 
plants full of thorns and destitute of leaves : neither bird 
nor animal appeared to enliven either with song or 
gambol these burning solitudes. 

My fellow travellers were Jewish merchants, Me- 
thodists, and free-thinkers. I could not escape one of 
those religious controversies so much sought after in 
America ; but so much were we overpowered by the 
heat, that no one entered warmly into discussion. 
The words died on our lips, without our having the 
power to articulate them. The horses jogged along 
slowly in single file like geese. Perspiration issued 
abundantly from every pore, and trickled down our 
bodies. AVe could scarcely breathe, so that at last we 
w r ere obliged to await the freshness of the evening 
breeze. 

At length the trees assumed a reddish tint, the 
shadows became longer while they turned eastward, the 



OLD REYNOSA. 



265 



leaves gently oscillated in the rising breeze, and the 
crowing of a cock and the lowing of herds announced 
a rancho. We had arrived at Reynosa Vieja, which 
was a large square formed by the huts of the principal 
inhabitants. Each angle terminated a roadway car- 
peted with light tufted grass. The environs were w^ell 
cultivated ; and the population of this immense rancho 
lived in ease and comfort. At the time of our entrance, 
men and cattle were enjoying the refreshing breeze, here 
and there beneath the trees that lined the court and 
the pathways. 

We went to take up our quarters in the outer 
court of one of the most wealthy proprietors of Rey- 
nosa Vieja. Our horses were unsaddled and secured 
for the night, before no stinted quantity of maize 
straw, one of the best descriptions of fodder in the 
country. While supper was getting ready, one of 
my fellow travellers introduced me to several rich 
rancheros. Everywhere they received us with un- 
affected cordiality, offering us cigarettes, chocolate, 
and little delicious honey-cakes. It was in this rancho 
that I learned for certain that the Mexicans used to 
bury their money when they had no immediate use for 
it. It was a habit peculiar to the old Spaniards ; and 
in the towns, as well as in country places, you often 
meet with vessels full of dollars and doubloons, hidden 
in the walls or under the trees. The population of 
Reynosa Vieja, numbering, as it did, certainly not fewer 
than one hundred families, was left almost entirely to 
itself in the matter of religion. It had hardly ever a 
visit from a priest, for the people had to go to Reynosa 
in cases of marriage and baptism, and they died without 
sacraments. I also learned that several families scat- 



266 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



tered all over these frontiers were in the same sad 
condition. 

An hour after our arrival, one of the guides came 
to announce supper, which consisted of boiled fowl, 
rice, and dried raisins, all dressed with pepper and other 
spices. The tortillas supplied did the duty at once of 
spoon and of bread. This supper was refreshing enough, 
and at its close we were each fortunately served with 
a cup of milk. We had the good luck to find some 
mattresses in the rancho, and these we stretched out in 
the outer court ; but not having quite enough of them, 
we were obliged to take each man a bed-fellow. Mine 
was a young Jew of the name of Moses, who, before fall- 
ing asleep, said to me, while he laughed, 

" Have you suspected that you are going to sleep with 
a Jew?" 

" No. And you, have you dreamt that your bed- 
fellow is a Cat holic priest ? " 

" Not the remotest idea of it ; you now inform me for 
the first time." 

u Think you, then, that our slumbers will be the less 
tranquil ? " 

" Certainly not." 

" Well, then, good night." 

"Goodnight." 

And I soon heard him snorting like a steam-engine 
just getting under way. As for me, notwithstanding 
the fatigue of a long journey on a bony horse, under a 
burning sun, sleep I could not. I saw glittering over 
my head those myriads of stars that I so often gazed upon 
with admiration during my first peregrinations. Among 
the constellations I looked out for the Shepherd, which 
in my boyhood in France I loved so to gaze upon, when 



RIO GRANDE CITY. 



267 



nature, shrouded in the mysterious veil of twilight, had 
only this solitary star twinkling overhead to light its 
track. The palm branches beneath which I lay gently 
vibrated in the air; the temperate breeze, breathing 
gently as it came, embalmed by the sweet odours of the 
woodland flowers, carolled in the distance, while it 
imparted to the sycamore leaves a voice of song 
strange and full of harmony resembling the melancholy 
sighs of many iEolian harps. I breathed these evening 
perfumes with the utmost delight, and listened atten- 
tively to the languishing murmuring of leaf and breeze, 
cut short at intervals by the plaintive cry of the widow 
bird as she hopped from tree to tree. At length I fell 
asleep wrapped in golden dreams. 

We were awakened before daylight by the neighing of 
our horses, already saddled by the guides, and set out 
notwithstanding the darkness, which scarcely allowed 
us to see our way before us. From Reynosa Vieja to 
Camargo the route is forced with no small difficulty 
through acacias, nopals, brushwood, all quite thick set 
in these quarters. Towards midday we halted again, to 
bait our horses and have some refreshments ourselves. 
Goat's milk was the entire bill of fare of our dinner. 
We reached Camargo, but instead of halting there, we 
struck out to the right, by a narrow pathway winding 
through a thick woodland, which brought us opposite 
the Rancho Davis. Again we crossed the Rio Grande, 
here both wide and deep, for it is, after receiving several 
tributaries — the Rio de San Juan, the Rio Alamo, and 
the Salado — further enlarged by the Rio Sabinos, which 
comes down from the Sierra Madre. 

The Rancho Davis is now better known under the 
name of the Rio Grande City. It is a vast assemblage of 



268 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



American stores and Mexican huts, where smuggling pro- 
gresses on an extensive scale. The Mexican government 
cannot afford for it a sufficient number of soldiers and 
customs officers ; and hence the productions of the United 
States make their way into Mexico with little difficult} 7 . 
Thus do the American dealers at the Rancho Davis 
realise immense fortunes. The United States govern- 
ment supports at Rio Grande City two or three com- 
panies of the regular army, whose quarters are to the 
south of the city. The barracks, depot stores, officers' 
houses and gardens cover an area of several acres. I 
had letters of introduction to the Commandant of the 
fort and to the doctor, and presented them at their 
addresses ; but being an eyewitness of the barbarous 
treatment that the Irish Catholic soldiers are now sub- 
jected to, I left with disgust, and never again set foot in 
the garrison. I saw an Irishman dying in chains in his 
bed ! ! ! 

The town is protected from the eastern winds by a 
chain of hills of diluvian formation. Trees and verdure 
are rarely to be seen, so that the heat reflected from the 
river sand, and from the rocks and gravel of the hills, 
makes the place a veritable furnace. One should possess 
the incombustible nature of the Salamander to live there 
any length of time ; and despite its excellent site, I 
question if it will ever assume any considerable deve- 
lopment. 

One of my free-thinking companions offered me 
the hospitality of his house ; and not knowing where to 
put up, I gratefully accepted his offer. Anxious 
to erect a church at Rio Grande City, I sounded the 
inhabitants on the subject. Catholics and Protestants 
vied in seconding my views, and offered aid with their 



ROUTE TO ROMA. 



2G9 



purses for the purpose. This eagerness was natural 
enough, for a church gives importance and character to 
a new settlement, as it does moral improvement to its 
people. Several Mexicans of Camargo and the frontiers 
were anxious to settle at Rio Grande City y where things 
were cheap, but the immorality of the people held them 
back. Besides, they had great repugnance at being 
deprived entirely of the succours of religion. The 
erection of a church would remedy these two evils, and 
hence the general eagerness to co-operate with me when 
the plan of the building was drawn and the outlay cal- 
culated. But I could find none who would undertake 
the direction of the work, or assume the responsibility 
of its completion ; and, for my own part, not being able to 
absent myself very long from Brownsville, I could not 
assume the responsibility. Thus, with many and deep 
regrets, I had to defer the project to a future time. 

Having devoted several days to journeys in the neigh- 
bourhood of Rio Grande City, I set off alone for Roma, an 
American settlement more northward. My route was 
a winding road, between the Rio Grande and a chain of 
hills that issue from the Sierra Verde and other ramifica- 
tions of the Rocky Mountains. At this latitude, the plains 
of Western Texas disappear; the country is diversified, 
yet its general aspect is melancholy. The mesquite 
tree, the acacia, the wild strawberry, the carob, and a 
countless family of the cactus, are the only ornaments 
of these arid stony hills. Sometimes your way lies on a 
whitish rock, which so reflects the sun's rays as almost to 
scorch the eyes. Should a plant succeed in working its 
way through some sheltered fissure more fertile than the 
surrounding desert, it soon expires under the devouring 
heat. As a compensation, however, should you meet with 



270 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



a ravine or stream, or more moist soil, you find the vege- 
tation incomparably rich and fruitful. In some of 
those ravines I found gigantic polip odiums, aspleniums, 
and other species of fern, which the prolonged droughts 
render very rare in Texas. A death-like silence prevails 
in this desert ; even the voice of a bird, or the roar of 
an animal, hardly ever relieves the profound stillness. 
The only living thing that I met during my journey 
filled me with pleasure. It was — must I say it ? — a 
rattle-snake. I had seen none of them since my return 
to America. Were its bite not mortal I could have 
dismounted to embrace the creature, for it brought 
Castroville back to memory. After this meeting, I 
pursued my journey musing pensively. 

I arrived at Roma towards evening, and took up my 
abode with one of the principal dealers, who was a 
Jew like the rest of them in this settlement. It is a 
jumble of stores and wooden cabins, mud and reed huts, 
flung here and there on a hillock, half roofed or half 
unroofed. The inhabitants are for the most part Ame- 
ricans. The Mexicans are poor and few in number, 
but they are most anxious to have a priest to instruct 
them in their duties, to support them in their misery, 
and to close their eyes at the supreme moment of death. 
But, first of all, a church was needed, and the Mexicans 
promised me all the materials, while the ten Jewish 
dealers, who formed the financial aristocracy of Roma, 
offered me each five hundred francs. But there, as at 
Rio Grande City, when on the point of putting our design 
into execution, I could find no one who would under- 
take the management of the work. Although this journey 
to the interior was necessary for me to learn the wants 
and religious condition of the districts depending on my 



ALAMO. 



271 



jurisdiction, I could not abandon the numerous popu- 
lation of Brownsville to become architect and master- 
mason for two or three months. 

My next visits were to Alamo and Mier. I begged 
of the pastor of the latter town to see the Catholics of 
Eoma and its neighbourhood from time to time. I was 
accompanied by the sheriff of Roma, an amiable and 
cordial young man. The route, as it reached the top 
of the hills, opened before me a view of immense ex- 
tent : to the east the boundless plains of Texas were 
lost in the white-blue haze of the horizon, and to the west 
the blue mountains of the Sierra Madre raised their 
peaky heads. Despite the distance, you could easily 
distinguish their enormous masses, and their fantastic 
peaks, gilded by the rays of the sinking sun. Northward 
the hills on which we travelled were lost in a semi- 
circle of distant ridges, while all around our eyes fell 
upon an ocean of golden light. 

Before arriving at Alamo, we had to ascend and 
descend a veritable chaos of small round knolls, pitched 
in a crowded fashion on the western ridge of the hills. 
We travelled over very fertile and well cultivated tracts. 
Alamo is a small American village of recent origin, 
taking its name from the nearest Mexican river, which 
falls into the Rio Grande. It is eligibly situated, 
and time may be spent there agreeably enough. On 
one side, the Rio Grande waters the gardens ; on the 
other, gigantic sycamores, with their net-work of 
branches, form a kind of dome over house-roofs, 
that protects them, as a parent, from the raging- 
heat. We crossed the Rio Grande in a flat-bottomed 
boat. At this point the right bank is of a sandy 
nature, and rather elevated. The table-land on which 



272 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



lies the route to Mier, is covered over with sedge, 
copse, and mesquite trees. Here and there you meet a 
solitary rancho, truly wretched-looking. The road is 
intersected by numbers of pathways formed by the 
cattle as they go to drink at the river. Before arriving 
at Mier we had to cross a wide but not very deep 
stream, in which a number of people of every age 
and each sex were bathing. At first sight I thought they 
were gold-nugget seekers, but I was soon undeceived. 
On the Mexican frontiers, ideas of social propriety and 
decency are still in their infancy. 

In its site Mier does not yield to any town of the 
frontiers. It is a town of amphitheatre-shape, perched on 
masses of rock, moderately elevated, with its church 
spire, palm, and aloe trees, cut out in profile against the 
azure firmament, while it still retains its Mexican com- 
plexion. You clearly see that the Anglo-Saxon race has 
not penetrated thus far. We had to ascend stairs hewn 
in the rock ; nor did our horses perform the escalade 
without considerable danger. Like all Mexican towns, 
Mier has its square, in which are situated the church 
and the principal residences ; and from it ramify a 
number of fine wide streets in different directions. 

Our first visit was to the pastor, who received us 
most kindly, at once offered us the cigarette, chocolate, 
and sweet cakes, and even made me a present of one of 
those necklaces of blue Venetian pearls worn by the 
Mexican priests. He also wished me to accept a 
deer and a young ass. You may well wonder that I 
refused, but my refusal took the cure by surprise, for 
it seems he set a high value on those two animals. 
I explained to him how difficult it would be for me to 
traverse a distance of more than 300 miles, encumbered 



AN APOLLO BELVIDERE. 



273 



at once with a horse, an ass, and a deer ; and I repre- 
sented all the dangers to which they would be exposed, 
were anything untoward to occur to myself. The fear 
that his deer and little ass might suffer too much on the 
journey, decided the good cure not to press his offer 
further. 

I paid two or three more visits in the town, but as 
I was obliged to smoke a cigarette, and swallow a cup 
of chocolate in every house that I visited, I had to 
regulate the number of my visits by the state of my 
appetite. I observed that in Mier, the people's skin 
is fairer than in other towns of the frontiers, and both 
sexes are mostly strikingly handsome. Their features 
are regular, delicate, and of a decidedly noble cast ; and 
they speak the Spanish more pure, correct, and less 
corrupted with Indian words or phrases. 

It was far advanced in the night when we quitted Mier. 
Not being able ourselves to decide which of the several 
pathways was the one leading back to the Eio Grande, 
we allowed our horses to guide themselves. After an 
hour's journeying we saw at a distance lights, which 
we took for the fires of Alamo. We were mistaken, 
however, for our horses, by a circuitous route, took us 
back to Mier, while we were confidently trusting to their 
instinct. Each of us was screwing his wits as to the 
means of escaping a second like misadventure, when all 
of a sudden we saw quite close to us the shadow of a man, 
whose costume resembled that of the Apollo Belvidere. 
It was a peon Mexican, who was returning from the 
fields on his way to Mier. We inquired the way to 
Alamo amid this labyrinth of bye-ways ; but, instead of 
answering us, he took the bridle of my horse, conducted 
us up the plateau, accompanied us for ten minutes, and 



274 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



said, in parting, " Let the horses take their own course," 
and vanished like an apparition. 

We arrived at the banks of the river without accident 
about midnight; but the ferryman had left his boat, 
and gone to sleep in his cabin. I had to parade before 
him my titles and character, in order to induce him 
to transfer us to the left bank. The night had grown 
brighter, with the breeze fresher and more balmy. The 
road was wide, so that our return would have been 
quite an agreeable promenade, had not prosy sleep 
closed our eyes to its charms. By the time we had 
arrived at Koma, it was rather late to call at the house 
of my Jewish host, to pass the remainder of the night 
there. The sheriff begged of me to remain with him- 
self, but, having lost the key of his hall door, we had 
to enter by a window. However, we lost not much time 
or labour in this piece of gymnastics. The sheriff had 
only one bed ; and this, in spite of all my opposition, I 
had to accept, the sheriff sleeping on the boards, wrapped 
up in his blanket. 

Every day brought me a new proof that the French 
Missionary in America secures without any difficulty the 
sympathy of Jews and Protestants in numbers, by only 
manifesting a certain amount of confidence and. frank- 
ness, while he remains inflexible in the performance of 
his duties. Those poor people, who have not the happi- 
ness to profess and to practise Catholic doctrine, insen- 
sibly shake off their prejudices against ourselves and our 
religion, when we unfold to them a benevolent heart, 
notwithstanding the difference of our religious tenets. 
A different manner of acting w T ould not be consistent 
with either prudence or religion ; it would only have 
the effect of souring still more our opponents, and of 



PAItTI-COLOURED INDIANS. 



275 



widening the chasm that separates us from those whom 
it is our pious wish to draw within the bond of unity. 

As my financial resources were just running out, I 
resolved to return to Brownsville and took my leave of 
the sheriff. Poor young man ! Afterwards he fell by 
the hand of an assassin in the discharge of his duties. In 
all sincerity I thanked the worthy merchants whose hos- 
pitality I had enjoyed, and I set out for Rio Grande 
City. 

I followed the first path I met with, and it brought 
me to the river ; but I had missed my way. To recover 
it I boldly struck into a thicket, never minding the 
thorns and the scratches, nor the fragments of my 
clothes which they kept behind, hanging from acacia 
and mesquite branches. I trotted along a whole hour, 
and had made no more than half a mile, when all of a 
sudden I found myself in the presence of nine Indians, 
three of whom were women ; the other six were armed 
with arrows. I grasped my pistol, and cried — " Halt." 
They halted like soldiers at the command of their officer. 
One of them came near and addressed me as a Mexican. 
The sound of this tongue excited within me a lively 
pleasure. I drew breath, knowing that I had to do 
with Manzos (good) Indians. 

" Where are you going ? " I asked. 

The Indians told me that they were in quest of game, 
but the scarcity of it on the Mexican frontier drove 
them as far as Texas. 

" I am," I replied, " chief of prayer on the banks of 
the great waters. I have come into the interior to visit 
the worshippers of the Great Spirit, and I return to my 
cabin." 

He eyed me with astonishment. 



276 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



" Why does not the chief of prayer follow the great 
road quite near him ? The way of the long grass is not 
quite easy." 

I durst not say that I had lost my way lest he might 
be tempted to murder me, in order to have my horse and 
arms. 

" True," I replied, " the way of the long grass is not 
easy, but the breath of the Great Spirit makes the 
leaves of trees move there. It gives a freshness to pale 
faces, and mesquite branches prevent the fire from the 
heavens from injuring the traveller." 

During this dialogue the rest of the Indians had 
drawn closer, and the oldest of them asked for tobacco. 
I had neither money nor tobacco : I told them so ; and 
left them at once, saying my good bye and wishing them 
a prosperous chase. Meanwhile I bethought me that 
they said the great path was close by. By great path they 
meant, no doubt, the high road. I turned to the left, 
and in truth I soon found myself in the right road. 
The meeting with these Indians had made me feverish, 
I avow ; I could never gaze on those figures of ver- 
milion hue, prussian blue, and copper, without expe- 
riencing a smothering heart ache. I went to the bot- 
tom of a ravine where a stream flowed quietly in a rocky 
bed overgrown with moss, and having cooled my lips, 
and stayed my excitement, I remounted without delay, 
and soon arrived at Rio Grande City. 

I stayed no longer here than to say good bye to the 
inhabitants, then crossed the Bio Grande and directed my 
way to Camargo. J was alone, and on foot, and the 
road by which I had to travel ran through a wood. It 
was a wide and handsome road ; but, with sand and 
heat, my progress was slow indeed, and tiresome. The 



CAMARGO. WEDDING PARTY. 



277 



town is only a few miles from the river ; yet, by the 
time of my arrival, I was quite exhausted. 

Camargo resembles all the towns of these frontiers. 
Indeed, you would say they were all built on the same 
plan by the same architect. The worthy pastor, poorly 
accommodated and fed as he was, in a hut formed of 
stakes sunk in the earth and interwoven with branches, 
which were over-laid with a kind of glazed earth, gave 
me bed and entertainment from Saturday till Monday. 
On Saturday I assisted at the high mass, when the 
sacred music was played on a large drum, a trombone, 
two clarionets, and several violins. However, all did 
their best ; and this singular orchestra produced no 
mediocre effect in this old and simple church. A great 
surprise awaited me. During the elevation they com- 
menced playing the Marseillaise. In such a place and at 
such a moment the selection was rather queer. True, 
throughout all America, the Marseillaise is quite the 
rage ; and often in drawing-rooms and on board steamers 
I have been requested to chant this revolutionary hymn. 
Perhaps, it was to do me honour that it was sung this 
very day in the church of Camargo. 

The pastor procured for me a guide and two horses, 
and, on the following Monday, I set off at three o'clock 
in the morning, notwithstanding the darkness. The 
road was wide and solid ; and we stepped along briskly, 
in order to make the most of the day before the heat set 
in. I was two hours en route when I heard the tread of 
several horsemen in full gallop behind me. There were 
about fifty men and women in gala dress. They passed 
on quite close to us at full gallop, some sending forth 
rather shrill notes, others humming fandango airs. 
They resembled a horde of madmen let loose, or of 



278 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Indians enjoying a holiday. I inquired of my guide 
what this whirl of human beings that had just passed 
us meant. He told me it was the marriage party to 
which we had been invited, but I knew nothing what- 
ever of wedding or invitation ; still, in this very circum- 
stance, I saw an excellent study 'of manners, and was 
delighted with the opportunity. My guide asked me 
to follow the party, for the way was long and mono- 
tonous. We set off at a gallop to overtake the party, 
which still continued at full speed, shouting, roaring, 
singing, in a thick cloud of dust raised by the horses' 
feet, and arrived at about ten o'clock a.m. at a rancho 
which consisted of about a score of wretched huts of 
stakes and reeds, where long tables laid out under a 
temporary awning of branches were prepared for us. 

I was scarcely installed in my tent, the owner of 
which was a relation of my guide's, when medals, 
images, crosses, and beads were brought to me from all 
quarters to be blessed. For each blessing, the owner of 
the article chose a godfather and godmother, who, with 
himself and the priest, became Compadre and Comadre 
de benediction, so that in about an hour I was related 
to the entire rancho. The frontier Mexicans love to 
multiply these spiritual ties, and thus in the course of 
his travels is he sure to meet, even in the smallest 
rancho, some relative or some friend of a relative. He 
then does not indeed receive hospitality; he takes it 
as a matter of course ; and installs himself as if at 
home. After two years' ministry on the banks of the 
Eio Grande, my relations counted by thousands in 
town and rancho. Often I failed to recognise the man 
who would familiarly salute me in these words, " Buenos 
dias, seizor Compadre don Emanuelito" The Mexicans 



WEDDING DAINTIES. 



270 



are quite liberal in the use of the diminutive termination 
ito, as a mark of affection. 

At mid-day the wedding feast was served up, and I 
had the place of honour. The meal consisted of rice 
soup without meat, but prepared with plenty of raisins 
and spices. Next came roast kid, cut up into pieces, 
and floating in a horrid sauce of beef-suet, pepper, 
and spices. After the first taste, I felt as if my throat 
was on fire. This beef-suet tasted like melted tallow, 
and turned my heart. After the kid came tassajo, 
likewise dressed in this abominable sauce. I had to 
summon up all my energy to swallow these frightful 
ragouts. My study of manners and habits was costing 
me dear, and I got out of humour with my guide for 
having accepted the invitation without my previous 
concurrence ; but, like the rest of the guests, his stomach 
was well used to these national sauces, and he ate like 
Sancho Panza at the marriage of Gamache. The only 
drink was a jug of whisky, which was sent round 
at the close of the repast. This time I stoutly re- 
fused, and asked for water, for I was so parched with 
thirst, that I thought I could quaff the Kio Grande at 
a draught. After dinner they withdrew to the huts or 
under the trees, for shelter for the siesta ; and at four 
o'clock I departed with my guide ; not, however, without 
saying adieu to all my new relations, an operation that 
engaged so long that a very late hour witnessed our 
arrival at Reynosa Vieja. All were in bed ; but my guide 
awakened one of his female relatives, who gave me a 
water melon for supper, and a mattress on which I lay in 
the great square. I was buried in sleep when, at about 
one o'clock in the morning, my guide shook me with a 
determination which I could not resist. He gave a 

T 4 



280 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



thousand reasons why we should start at midnight, and 
urged me so effectually, that in the end I gave in 
with a sinking heart. To shorten the route, we struck 
into a wood of acacias, so dense, that I left there 
behind me no small portion of my apparel. Blind to all 
before me, I every instant knocked against the branches, 
the thorns of which smeared my hands and face with 
streams of blood. The path which we followed was 
sometimes so narrow and choked up, that to make my 
way I was obliged to stretch at full length on the 
horse. I then heartily regretted having yielded to the 
pressing suggestions of my guide ; but it was too 
late to retrace our steps, and I vowed never again to 
travel by night ; as if indeed the poor missionary could 
choose his time, and was not in duty bound, whenever 
duty called, to travel without murmur or hesitation. 
However, day-dawn in its first faint colouring put to 
flight all my ennuis , and I soon enough forgot my 
recent sufferings. 

A penetrating odour filled the wood ; the vanilla, 
the pachuli, the jessamine, the ebony tree, and thousands 
of wild vines saturated the morning breeze with de- 
licious perfumes. The blustering voice of the cardinal, 
the languishing coo of the turtle, the sad sweet moan 
of the blue bird, the song of the bird of paradise, and 
the mocker, scattered around a charming medley of 
clear and plaintive notes. A light dew had strewn 
on the leaves of the trees and plants a thousand liquid 
pearls, which refracted the pure bright ray into its 
prismatic colours. These perfumes, this gentle air, these 
songs, and these brilliant hues did make me happy. 
This awaking of nature conveyed into my soul a feeling 
of undefined bliss; a vague happiness which I would 



VARIETIES OF VIRGIN SCENES. 



281 



not have exchanged for all the joys of earth, while it 
raised my thoughts towards heaven. In these vast 
solitudes nature at every instant presents to the eye 
pictures in which the sublime is ever portrayed, 
now under the smiling and varied forms of virgin 
forests and unexplored mountains, now in the guise of 
a scorching or a monotonous desert. Everywhere she 
instils into the Christian's soul sentiments and trea- 
sures of poetry, of peace, and of gratitude towards the 
Creator of those wonders. 



282 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



CHAP. V. 

A STRONG MAN. — A STORM IN THE WOODS. A SERIOUS FALL. — 

A DISAGREEABLE ERROR. — - BEGINNING OF A LONG FAST. A BAD 

NIGHT. — CRITICAL JOURNEY. — THE FUNERAL CROSSES. RANCHO 

DE LA PALMA. RETURN TO BROWNSVILLE. A CONFRERE. 

SUFFERINGS. MOURNING. — MEDICINE AMONG THE RANCHEROS. — 

THE FEMALE WEEPERS. INTERMENT OF A CONVERTED JEW. 

A WELL-SPENT JOURNEY. CRUEL SEPARATION DUTY OF FRIEND- 
SHIP. 

Aftee much fatigue undergone in the woods, I arrived 
at Reynosa, and proceeded to the parish priest, whom I 
found in conference with one Antonio Rodriguez, 
celebrated, as well as his brother, for his Herculean 
strength. I was told that Antonio one day, to give 
a proof of his strength, seized a mule by the hind 
legs, and notwithstanding the cries and blows of the 
bystanders, the mule could not move an inch. The 
fame of both brothers was as good as a police station to 
the neighbourhood. If a horse had gone astray or been 
stolen, it was rumoured that the Rodriguez were 
commissioned to make search, and soon enough the 
animal came back to its stable. 

I returned to Edinburgh with the intention of making 
my way to Brownsville along the Rio Grande, but I 
could get no horse on the eve of St. James; and the 
Mexicans, who have peculiar veneration for Santo Iago, 
were scattered about with their horses in the sur- 
rounding ranchos. After long searches, I could only 
meet with two sorry-looking ponies ; and I made up 
my mind to call upon an old acquaintance, Tgnacio 



TROPICAL WEATHER. 



283 



Garcia, who doubtless would procure me horses for the 
long journey before me. 

^^ r e had just turned into a very narrow pathway, 
intersecting a very dense wood, such as the virgin 
forests of Louisiana, when torrents of rain all of a sud- 
den fell, drenching us to the very marrow, over-flooding 
the path, and forming pools, in which our horses were 
more than knee-deep. The wood became thicker and 
thicker ; agavas, nopals, and pitas filled up every inter- 
stice between the trees, while the upper branches of the 
gigantic sycamores bent arch-like over our heads, shoot- 
ing down from their sturdy folds enormous streamers 
of green. The storm raged with fury ; and made this 
dome of branches, leaves, and verdure, rustle in a fearful 
manner. The guide avowed that he had missed his way. 

" Let us continue on," I replied, " we may meet some 
one who will put us on the right path." 

Nature is capricious at the tropics. The storm 
subsided as quickly as it came ; and we reached the 
outskirts of a prairie, over which hung a rainbow 
of uncommon beauty. The reddish tint of the set- 
ting sun gilded the tree tops fantastically ; large heavy 
clouds still rolled along the firmament in wild com- 
motion ; whilst the solemn roll of thunder was heard 
at intervals. A herd of cows and a number of goats 
were browsing quietly on grass now decked with bril- 
liant diamond drops. They were tended by a horse- 
man perfectly naked. His long shaggy hair, his brownish 
skin, his gun by his side, gave him a savage and terrible 
appearance. However, when I asked him if he knew 
where was the rancho of Don Ignacio Garcia, he made 
a sign in the affirmative with his head, and simply 
pointed his finger to the path leading thereto. This 



284 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



path wound round and round again like a wounded 
snake in the convulsions of pain, and wriggled right 
and left among the trees so circuitously, that every 
instant I had to describe with my bridle semicircles 
in opposite directions. It was quite enough to give 
a Hollander the staggers. 

After a couple of hours' wandering, I saw a huge 
rattle-snake curl itself up. My horse startled, plunged 
to the right, and brought my head against a large 
branch so violently, that I was unhorsed and rolled to 
the ground quite senseless. Had I not worn a thick, 
strong palm-leaf hat, it was not only stunned, but lifeless 
I should have lain. My horse made off. My guide, who 
had been some way behind me, carried away like- 
wise by his frightened steed, rode over my body. It 
was all the work of an instant. I remained in this 
critical position more than a quarter of an hour. My 
insensibility over, I resumed my journey on foot, this 
time praying no blessings on the rattle-snake. About 
a mile on I met my guide, who, having mastered 
his horse and retaken mine, was returning to my 
rescue. I observed an unknown farm which, he said, 
was the one we were looking out for ; but I too well 
knew there was some mistake, and addressed an old 
woman who was seated at a cabin door smoking her 
cigarette. 

" Is this," I asked, " the rancho of Don Ignacio 
Garcia?" 

" Yes, but he is gone to the feast." 

" Are there many Ignacio Garcias in these parts ? " 

" Yes, a good many of them." The identity of name 
caused this mistake. 

" Have you any horses ? " 



A NIGHT AT A EANCHO. 



235 



" There will be none till after the feast." 

" Have you anything for one to eat ? I have not 
tasted food since yesterday." 

"No, Senor, I have just eaten the last tortilla.'" 

" Could you at least make us a fire ? " 

" I am sorry I have no firewood — and the maize - 
straw, which you see in the backyard, is too moist for 
fuel." 

I was so fagged, the night was so dark, and my 
guide so little to be relied on, that I could not retrace 
my path. I remained at the rancho and determined 
on returning to Brownsville through Mexico, being 
now satisfied that it would not be prudent to travel 
by impossible roads, at the risk of either being killed or 
dying of hunger. The soil all around was so saturated 
with rain, that it resembled a marsh, and the interior of 
the hut was not much better. Failing a dry spot where- 
on to lay myself down, I stretched myself on a wretched 
old cart, while my clothes stuck to my skin ; my teeth 
chattered ; and I shivered with cold. Hunger gnawed 
my entrails in a pitiful way ; my joints and limbs were 
sore and broken with my journey and fall ; and with 
all this, sleep I could not. In spite of all these 
tortures I was not one whit downcast ; I knew God 
watched over me, and that his angel reckoned my every 
pain and ache to enter them in the book of life. It was 
but a very little thing to endure a few trials for Him 
who died for us on Calvary. Though not too robust 
in constitution, I have always supported purely physical 
sufferings with a fair share of fortitude. Unfortunately, 
moral trials tell much more on my poor organisation, 
and it is then I specially require aid from above, not 
to sink or lose heart or confidence. 

I 



286 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



We were up early, and in the end arrived at Edin- 
burgh without mishap. I returned to Reynosa, where 
after many a useless search, the parish priest succeeded 
in procuring for me a wretched little horse, but no 
guide. I was then obliged to venture alone on my 
way, without other direction than the stars. The 
country was flat, but the trees and pasture lands were 
laid out by nature with a coquettish gracefulness. It 
was now a forest I had to cross,— now a little prairie, 
green, or in flowers, encircled by rows of palm trees, 
ebony, and mesquite trees — now a field of maize, its ears 
of golden hue, or of sugar-cane with its lanceolated 
leaves — now a resaca, in which wild ducks, cranes, 
herons, treated themselves to a bath. The road was 
wide and well made ; but unfortunately, like that from 
Camargo to Reynosa, of which it was the continuation, 
it disappeared from time to time beneath the grass. 
Sometimes it was covered over with underwood — else- 
where cultivated, so that often losing sight of it, I was 
in danger of missing my way. I cannot say, whether 
their independence has made the Mexicans more free 
and happy ; but of this there is no doubt, that since 
Mexico shook off the Spanish yoke, it has done nothing 
to preserve the roads, and if it does not bestir itself in 
that direction, international communications will become 
impossible. 

Towards mid-day I saw, at the outskirt of a wood, a 
hut from which issued a white slender wreath of smoke. 
I concluded that the people of this house had not gone to 
the feast of Santo I a go ; and as for forty-eight hours I had 
eaten only a few slices of water melon, an agreeable, but 
not very nutritious aliment, I approached the door, and 
knocked. A good old woman was setting about making 



THE RANCIIO DE LA TALMA. 



287 



a fire for dressing tortillas and tassajo. I asked her if 
she could spare me something to eat. She told me she 
had just then only milk, but that if I waited I could 
share her dinner. Before accepting the invitation 
I inquired if the Eancho de la Palma was far distant. 

" No, Senor," she said to me ; " it is near this." 

The Mexicans are not too bright on the subject of 
distances, and the word near, not qualified by a superla- 
tive and two or three diminutives, often means " very 
far." But I had yet to acquire this knowledge of the 
relative value of words ; and anxious as I was to arrive 
as soon as possible at the end of my day's march, I par- 
took of a little milk and resumed my journey. 

To the right and left of the road I had remarked for 
some distance a number of crosses fixed in the earth at 
certain intervals. My first impression was that they 
marked the scene of some horrid murder ; and herein I 
only fell into the error so common among travellers who 
have noticed these crosses in the Mexican territory. I 
imagined myself in a cut-throat defile, and was prepared 
every moment to hear the usual formula, " Your purse or 
your life." Drawing nearer, I observed that several of 
these crosses bore the name of one and the same person, 
and the same date of his death. Then reasoning from the 
premiss that the same person could not be murdered at 
the same time in different places, I concluded that the 
crosses marked the spots where the remains had been 
laid during the funeral procession. I was afterwards 
confirmed in my judgment by Mexicans well versed in 
the usages of their country. However, a few of those 
mark the spot where murder had been perpetrated. 

A little before sunset I arrived in my way to Browns- 
ville at the Eancho de la Palma, where were assembled 



288 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



together numbers of horsemen, some in gala dress, 
others in rags and squalor. This rancho you might 
almost call a little town ; its population amounts to 
about a thousand souls. That day, not fewer than three 
thousand souls met there to celebrate the feast of 
Santo Iago. Palma has no grand square like the 
other towns and ranchos of these regions, but it is in- 
tersected by a wide and very long street in which the 
races and dances were held. I sat on the window-sill of 
the hut where I had put up, and, while waiting dinner, 
I contemplated the public rejoicings. 

The majority of the rancheros were superbly mounted. 
Their saddles and bridles were mounted with silver, and 
two of the bridles were themselves of solid silver. After 
the races the horsemen walked about in large groups, arm 
in arm, singing to the accompaniment of the mandoline 
and the accordion, while some amused themselves by 
taking a woman en croupe, and setting off at full gallop 
to the end of the street, and returning only to change 
their burthen. Towards evening, however, the horses 
were tied to the trees of the rancho ; lanterns were 
suspended from the branches ; and seats were set out in 
rectangular forms. The rancheras, divested of their more 
precious articles of dress and of their mantillas, took 
their places, while the men formed in rows behind them. 
Two violins, two clarionets, and a big drum played 
the fandango, and the ball commenced. 

At this moment my dinner was announced, and it con- 
sisted of a morsel of kid broiled on the coals ; I ate it 
without sauce, seasoning, or bread; and let me add, 
without light. Fingers were made before knives and 
forks, and they had to serve me on this occasion. I 
endeavoured to shake off the crust of coal and ashes put 



HAZARDOUS JOURNEY. 



289 



on in the process of cooking, but in vain. The whole 
time of my repast I imagined I was chewing gravel 
steeped in grease. Dinner over, I dispensed with 
witnessing the remainder of the festival; and having 
passed the two preceding nights almost entirely with- 
out sleep, I flung my blanket around me, and attempted 
to sleep in the back yard. But, during the whole night, 
the bum-bum of the big drum, the shrill discordant notes 
of the clarionet, the roars of merriment, and thundering 
acclamations of the dancers, kept me from closing an eye. 

Next clay, the principal inhabitants of the rancho came 
to beg that I would remain some time among them, to 
establish a mission ; to bless a cemetery ; to lay out 
a chapel ; to organise, to baptize, and to marry. But 
Palma, being in Mexico, was no part of my jurisdiction. 
I should have the express permission of the ecclesias- 
tical governor of Monterey for this purpose, and this I 
promised to ask. 

This time, being in a condition to continue my journey 
through Texas, I took with me a guide who could con- 
duct me as far as Galveston, a small rancho on the left 
bank of the Rio Grande. We had only two tilled fields 
to cross, so that the journey was without accident. After 
two hours we were at the banks of the river wdiich our 
horses had to swim across. I breakfasted with a Com- 
padre de Bautismo. Thirty miles from Brownsville, 
I met, in a small rancho, a Mexican, on his way to 
Eeynosa, and engaged him to take back my horse, while 
I looked out for another. It was not so easy to find 
one ; and when found he had neither saddle nor bridle. 
I harnessed him as best I could with cords, and set off 
at full gallop for Brownsville. 

Four rancheros travelled along with me ; and their 

u 



290 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



number increased by the way ; and I re-entered Browns- 
ville with an imposing cortege, in a very whirlwind of 
dust. I was browned by the sun ; my beard and hair 
had reached a patriarchal length ; and my clothes were 
all in rags. I was a skeleton from fatigue and hunger, 
so that no one recognised me. Nevertheless, I was well 
pleased with the journey, which had informed me of the 
character and manners of those people quite left to them - 
selves, more numerous than I had imagined, and so sadly 
bereft of spiritual aids, that along both frontiers I met 
with not only families, but whole ranchos, which had not 
seen a priest for twenty or thirty years, to which my 
arrival was quite an event, and which were astonished 
to see a missionary act like the rest of men. I formed 
grand projects for the moral and material improvement 
of those destitute populations, so well deserving of in- 
terest. Alas! projects are more easily made than 
accomplished. 

After my return to Brownsville I fell dangerously ill, 
and it was with no small joy that I welcomed the arrival 
of a colleague, sent me by the bishop of Galveston. He 
was an excellent Irish priest, of exemplary piety and in- 
defatigable zeal. He eased me of part of my burthen ; 
and in his society I found genuine consolation. Unfortu- 
nately, he had not youth enough on his side to support 
with impunity the excesses of the climate. I was often 
obliged to leave him alone, and go by myself to the 
more distant ranchos and villages ; and as he knew no 
Spanish, his position in my absence was painful and 
critical enough. When I lived at Brownsville, my occu- 
pations were so multiplied, that sometimes we passed 
entire days without being able to interchange a word. 
His health was shattered by these different causes, his 



AT BROWNSVILLE AGAIN. 



291 



strength declined, and he was obliged to return to 
Ireland. 

Shortly after my return to Brownsville, my colleague 
was seized with a violent fever, which obliged him to keep 
his bed. The following Sunday I had to go to officiate 
and preach at the rancho of Santa Rita, ten miles off, but 
I returned to the town to sing the high mass and preach 
again as usual. I could hardly conclude the mass, and 
intimated to the congregation that a sudden indisposition 
put it out of my power to give the usual instruction ; 
and I had hardly reached the sacristy, when I became 
quite unconscious. When consciousness returned, I 
found myself in my bed, surrounded by some benevolent 
individuals, who were lavishing attentions on me, while 
my sick colleague lay in the adjoining room. At this 
moment, Isidore brought me letters from France. Not- 
withstanding my weakness, I sprang from the bed to lose 
no time in seizing them. I took them out of his hands 
- — but, alas ! they announced to me the death of three 
members of my family. For some time the suddenness 
of the news and grief left me unable to weep. At 
length, however, nature had her course, and tears in 
abundance came to my relief. I was seized with a 
violent fever ; and for twelve days I wavered between 
life and death. A poor young Irishman, named Philip, 
with affecting self-denial, left his business to help Isidore, 
and tend myself and my fellow-labourer, who were both 
confined to bed, and as much dead as alive. Without 
my knowledge, he called on the sheriff and the autho- 
rities of the town, and informed them that there was a 
fandango near my house, which every evening made a 
noise sufficient to make me worse, preventing me from 
sleep, and causing relapse. These gentlemen were 

u 2 



292 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



good enough to make the fandango change quarters. On 
the fifteenth day of my illness I got up to say mass, 
being now out of danger, but seeming ten years older 
by my illness. Philip, as if to be out of the way of 
our gratitude, went off to New Orleans, but I had at 
least the happiness to see him afterwards in this town. 
My medical attendant was also an Irishman, and would 
take no remuneration for his visits and attentions. I 
believe I was destined to be the spoiled child of all the 
Irish who came about me. No wonder, then, that this 
generous and cruelly persecuted nation should have my 
liveliest sympathies and most grateful affections. 

To make things worse, several diseases raged among 
the female population of the frontiers. At this particular 
juncture, the duties of my ministry were particularly 
severe, while my strength was proportionately dimi- 
nished. My parish, properly so called, radiated thirty 
or forty miles from Brownsville as a centre, having a 
population of nearly thirty thousand souls ; but I was 
able to visit the ranchos, towns, and villages beyond the 
above distance only at stated periods, so that the poor 
people who died before or after, were necessarily deprived 
of sacraments. However, I multiplied my journeys as 
much as I could, and I was often on horseback the whole 
night, taking hardly time to eat my meals, while some- 
times I lost my way. 

One morning I was roused very early to administer 
the last sacraments to one of the best Catholic ladies of 
Brownsville, Madame Mariquita Garesche, wife of that 
good artillery officer who on my arrival had offered me 
his purse, his house, and his best services. I was 
attached by ties of devoted friendship to those two 
superior natures, who loved me as a brother. Mr. Jules, 
as I have said, was originally a Frenchman ; and Madame 



PAINFUL PARTING. 



293 



Mariquita, as I used to call her, had lived a long time 
in Paris, at the Convent of St. Clotilde. When at 
Brownsville, I usually sat at the table of my good 
friends, with whom I had many a conversation about 
our distant native land. On the occasion of my illness, 
Madame Garesche bestowed on me all the tender cares of 
a sister of charity ; so that it was with the most pro- 
found emotions that I administered the last consolations 
of religion to this holy soul, full of resignation, who had 
so often aided me. 

I was still by the the bedside of the sufferer, when 
Isidore came to inform me that I was called away six 
miles from Brownsville, to the ranch o of St. Rosalia, 
to attend a woman who was dying of hemorrhage, 
Aware that this disease soon carries off its victims in 
these regions, I mounted at once the horse that awaited 
me, and galloped away. When I arrived, I found near 
the dying, another woman who was forcing milk from 
her own breasts into a spoon, and putting it to the 
lips of the patient. The remedy had an effect the 
reverse of what was expected, for the sufferer died 
immediately. As a medicinal remedy, the women of 
the ranchos have an implicit faith in the sanatory 
properties of " the milk of a Christian woman,' 7 as they 
call it. Unfortunately, experience speaks against them. 
Much better is the system of Kaspail, which is in such 
vogue in these countries, and applied with such success. 
I have seen sold at a fabulous price, his " Annual of 
Health," translated from the Spanish. For sun strokes 
and apoplexy, sedative water was the only remedy 
known in these regions. In the ranchos, when one dies, 
the women weep, set up a bitter cry, tear their hair, 
strike their breasts with all the marks of grief, which, 

u 3 



294 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



whether in earnest or acted, is equally violent. At all 
times these noisy manifestations of grief take place 
among a primitive, uncultivated people. I witnessed 
this scene for the first time at Rosalia ; and was alarmed 
and moved by it ; but I escaped with all speed, having to 
assist at the interment of a converted Jew. 

On my return to Brownsville, I performed the 
obsequies. Having reached the cemetery, we were 
assailed by one of those sudden storms which the 
tropics alone are able to engender. In an instant we 
were wet through. The soil was so softened by the 
unexpected deluge, that the brink of the grave fell in 
where I was reciting the prayers for the dead, and 
myself, and eight or ten others besides, fell over the 
coffin, and were half buried with the dead. But we 
escaped with sprains, a few bruises, and a coating of 
yellow mud upon oar garments. 

During this time, the streets were metamorphosed . 
into as many little rivers, which I had to cross on foot. 
The storm ceased as quickly as it had begun ; the 
sun shone forth in all his radiant splendour ; and on 
arriving at the presbytery, I found two horses saddled 
ready, waiting for me, with a guide, who begged of me 
to go with him without a moment's delay to attend two 
women, who were dying in a rancho thirty-two miles 
from Brownsville. He added, that in order to travel 
more quickly, he had left, half way, two other horses 
as a relay. 

There was no time for hesitation, and I did not even 
wait to breakfast, but changed my wet cassock for my 
coat, clapped my palm-branch hat well down on my 
head, to guard against the burning sun, and set off at 
a gallop. Having galloped for an hour and a half, 



SUFFERING AND MOURNING. 



295 



we exchanged our jaded horses for the relay awaiting 
us, and pursued our journey at a similar pace. I did 
not at the time perceive the error of my not having 
breakfasted ; but now I felt very weak and unwell, and 
had distressing heaviness of stomach ; my clothes were 
wet, not now with rain, but the perspiration that flowed 
abundantly from me in large tepid drops The heavens 
seemed on fire — the atmosphere in flames. It was the 
end of August, at the height of the raging heat, and 
the sun, with a serene, majestic self-complacency, sent 
down on our devoted heads his perpendicular rays. We 
crossed a great resaca, where the carburetted hydrogen 
that escaped from the earth disturbed the air like the 
fluttering flame of a candle, to a height of twenty or 
twenty-five feet. We felt as if we were passing through 
the midst of a raging furnace. 

When I arrived at the hut where one of the patients 
lay ill, I was little better than herself, and I fainted 
before I could be kept from falling. To restore my 
consciousness I was abundantly sprinkled with cold 
water ; but by the fall I got an enormous lump on my 
forehead. Having administered the last sacraments to 
the dying woman, I was about proceeding to discharge 
the same office for the other, when I became unconscious 
a second time. Fortunately my paleness and faltering 
gait plainly gave warning of my suffering condition, and 
I walked arm-in-arm with the rancheros who accom- 
panied me. While the fainting fit continued I had to 
undergo a second sprinkling. Truly was I destined to 
spend my journey in a cold or tepid bath. My minis- 
trations ended, I took a cup of coffee, but had not strength 
enough to eat anything, and I made the best of my way 
to Brownsville, where my presence was necessary. 

u 4 



296 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



But my journey was not to end here. Having come 
as far as the thicket that connects the rancho of Santa 
Eita with Brownsville, and, on account of the frequent 
murders committed there, called " cut-throat" I found a 
Mexican who had been for several hours waiting there 
for me to go to a rancho on the banks of the Rio Grande, 
where my ministry was needed. This fine fellow had 
been in Brownsville to look for me. Isidore informed 
him of my whereabouts, and he came to plant himself 
directly in my way. He tied his horse to a tree, and 
continued smoking cigarettes while waiting for me. I 
then turned off from my path and followed my new 
guide. We struck into the thick of a wood, itself ex- 
ceedingly dense, and consisting exclusively of enormous 
ebony trees of richest odour, and of mesquite trees. On 
the evening previous, I had assisted in this very place, 
at the removal of the body of an American, who had 
been murdered in a mysterious manner. One of his 
friends proposed a post-mortem examination, with the 
view of finding some clue to the authors of the deed, 
and I was present at the operation, which took place just 
before the interment. The deceased received a ball from 
the very muzzle of a gun, right through the heart. 
In his breast was found the wadding, but beyond 
this, no more information could be gleaned of the 
murderer. 

We even passed beneath the tree where he had fallen. 
The path was quite narrow, the trees were smothered 
with foliage, and the underwood thickly set. The 
shades of night were beginning to fall on this savage 
spot, so solitary and ill-famed. The plaintive coo of the 
turtle-dove was the only sound that, at certain intervals, 
broke the dismal stillness. Night — silence — solitude 
— the cry of the bird — all this inspired an undefined 



SUSPICIOUS LOOKING GUIDE. 



297 



dread which could not be explained. I felt sad and 
uneasy. From self-love, I suppose, I attributed this 
state of mind to hunger, weakness, and fatigue. At 
length, however, we arrived at our destination. 

I found an old woman stretched on a buffalo skin. 
She had been scalded all over with boiling water, 
and was dying in the most excruciating tortures. To 
give her some ease, her neighbours had covered her all 
over with nopal dust or scrapings, — an effectual molli- 
fiant, and much in use in these countries. Poor soul ! 
the joy of seeing the minister of God made her forget 
for the moment her torture. Being unable to cure her, 
I whispered words of consolation into her suffering 
heart. I spoke to her of the dolorous passion of the 
Son of God — of Him who said, "Blessed are they who 
weep, for they shall be comforted." 

I spoke with profound feeling, for I could never be 
unmoved witnessing the sufferings of others ; yet I have 
seen so much suffering, that my heart might well have 
been hardened. But some natures it is hard to change. 
As I was quitting this poor woman, she squeezed my 
hand in grateful acknowledgment, and appeared more 
calm and resigned. For my part, I was more stricken 
down than herself; and 1 no longer thought of my 
fatigues. 

The guide who was to escort me to Brownsville was 
not the same who had conducted me, so that this was 
the third guide I had in the course of my journey. I 
really quaked with fear, as I saw him sharpening an 
enormous dirk, which he fastened at his side. In my 
eyes he had all the air of an arrant, finished bandit. I 
might well fear ; but it was neither fit nor prudent to 
manifest my apprehensions ; and so I kept behind him 
as far as I could. We had travelled a certain distance 



298 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



when I heard the branches sending forth a crackling 
sound before us. My guide seemed to take no notice of 
this noise ; but, as in these regions distrust may become 
a virtue, I called upon my guide to halt and listen if 
he heard anything, for in the pitchy darkness to see any 
thing was simply impossible. In reality, we heard the 
approach of some one in the underwood. 

" Who goes there ? " cried my guide. 

" A friend," was the answer. 

" All right," he rejoined. And continued his course. 
But this answer by no means reassured me ; for I would 
rather have met a panther than a man at such an hour, 
in such a place. 

Hence, I cried out to my guide, " How now, you 
wretch ! you say all right, while I think, on the contrary, 
it is all wrong. Do you know with whom you have to 
deal ? " 

" Oh ! Senor cure," he replied, " fear not ; I have 
recognised the voice of Don Antonio. He is a good 
Christian." 

I knew nothing in the world about Don Antonio ; but 
as he passed me by, I observed this good Christian, who 
seemed to me a bad character in rags. Appearances, 
however, often deceive, and I said, u Good night " to 
Don Antonio, who, on his part, wished me a thousand 
blessings. It was near midnight by the time I arrived 
at Brownsville. In mind, as in body, I was truly in a 
pitiable condition, but I retired to rest without taking 
any nourishment. 

Seldom passed a week not characterised by a suc- 
cession of similar occurrences, which kept me a whole 
day or a night, or both sometimes, on horseback, in fair 
weather and foul. I soon felt that such a life could not 



THE MOST BELOVED MUST PAKT. 



299 



last long, that my strength gave the lie to my wishes, 
and that my stay in this mission would be short indeed. 
Yet I found it impossible to act otherwise, for I could 
not in conscience make up my mind to neglect the in- 
struction of those poor people that I loved so much, to 
allow so many poor souls to depart unaided in distant 
ranchos, souls that called on me to reconcile them to 
God, and open their path to heaven. Thus, notwith- 
standing my wretched health, never quite restored 
since my departure from Castroville, I determined on 
pursuing this exhausting course, while strength lasted 
to keep me on the saddle or at the sacred altar. 

Sorrow and sadness just at this moment fell to my 
lot. My cherished Jules (Mr. Garesche) left for the 
United States. In the friendship of this pious Christian, 
so full of lively faith, I found much encouragement and 
consolation. His conversation was full of unction, and 
engaging beyond expression. Solitude has always been 
to me a sombre veil, spreading darkness and bitterness 
over my thoughts. Oftentimes the best constituted 
and most devoted natures require to attach themselves 
to something sensible, in order to shake off the lassi- 
tude of the soul. The mind cannot be always on the 
stretch, as it soon wears itself out. When you return 
from a long weary journey, the soul feels sad from the 
sufferings which it has aided to console, — the body is 
weighed down by privations that it cannot escape. At 
this moment the flower which you love, whose growth 
you watch, and which you water with due care 
morning and evening — the bird that warbles its joyous 
song on your gable — the faithful dog that watches 
your return with plantive whining, are not enough 
to drive away this natural melancholy brought on by 



300 TEXAS AND MEXICO. 

solitude. I was, therefore, deeply attached to this holy 
couple, tried so much by sickness. Twice was Madame 
Garesche brought to the brink of the grave ; and twice 
did she escape, contrary to all the expectations of 
professional skill. 

During our hours of freedom, Mr. Jules and his wife 
used to come and pass some time beneath the porch 
of my cottage. To the happiness of speaking my 
mother-tongue, while breathing the pure temperate air, 
embalmed with the fragrance of tropical nights, was 
added the advantage of drawing from the fountain 
head important information, regarding the countries 
which Mr. Jules had for a long time inhabited. At my 
age, these conversations had still for me the charm 
which the outpourings of friendship bestow upon those 
in whom years, evils, and experience have not weakened, 
and destroyed one by one their dearest illusions. My 
burthen was often enough rather heavy for shoulders 
so young ; and sometimes God allowed me to fall into 
faint-heartedness, as if to show that He alone is the 
Consoler supreme, the Master of all hearts, and that 
in Him alone I ought to place all my confidence, from 
Him draw all my strength. Unfortunately, in the 
midst of trials, my eyes were not always turned towards 
heaven. Sometimes they sought the earth, to find 
there a support. I found in it the pious hand of this 
friend, and seized it with all the energy of which I was 
capable. These evening entertainments were a kind of 
antidote against this singular lowness of spirit, the 
offspring of solitude, which I could not shake off. In 
the heart of my dear Jules I found strength and 
courage, which Providence seemed to deny me, to make 
my labour more meritorious. 



MODEL MISSIONARIES. 



301 



I have never imagined that the priesthood was a me- 
chanism, which was to work coldly and regularly like a 
clock. Charity and love of human kind ought to be 
the moving springs of action with a priest. Such are 
often the tests of success in the apostolical ministry. 
St. Francis Xavier, St. Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de 
Paul, and so many other apostles of human nature, have 
converted whole nations, by pouring into their words 
and actions the treasures of charity, that glowed in the 
focus of their own ardent bosoms. A priest who would 
act differently from these illustrious models would preach 
to a desert, he would beat the air, and his ministry 
would be void. But if charity of the heart is the prin- 
ciple of zeal, it is also the source of a thousand miseries 
to him who attaches himself too much to the people 
whom he evangelises. To keep up this sacred fire of 
charity, and direct it to the greater glory of God and 
the profit of our fellow men, a strength is required 
which is found only at the foot of the crucifix. That 
encouragement is required, which is found chiefly in 
the perusal of the history of apostolical men, and in the 
devotedness of a pious affection. 

Jules had been, then, to me one of those beings whose 
parting leaves in the soul a void hard to be filled up. 
The day of his departure arrived. I embraced him in a 
flood of tears, and parted, never to see him more. His 
pious consort, yet hardly over the effects of her late 
illness, accompanied him. She was anxious to go and 
pray over the tomb of her two children who died in the 
cradle, and were interred in the church, but was pre- 
vented by unforeseen circumstances. At the moment of 
parting, she made me promise to discharge this pious 
duty for her by proxy. 



302 



TEXAS AND MEXICO, 



Sadly did I enter my house, to be cheered no longer 
by the visits of my friends. As night came I went to 
the chapel, feebly lighted by the pale ray of the moon. 
The breeze was hushed ; the birds slept in their nests ; 
all nature was plunged in profound silence ; while I 
directed my steps towards the tomb of the two little 
angels, to fulfil my promise. Alas ! It is only mothers 
who can weep over the bliss of their little ones, while 
their innocent souls enjoy an eternal happiness in heaven. 
Poor mother ! she need not visit those two tombs over 
which I knelt in prayer, and which so often witnessed 
her prayers and moans. I could not pray for the 
angels whose bliss was secure ; but I did pray for all 
mothers whose blind tenderness for their children is 
often cruel in its results — - fatal tenderness, which fills 
the world with misery, and inundates it with vice. 
Thus did I discharge that debt of maternal piety. 
Tears bedewed my cheek ; for I remembered that in 
France, I too had cherished tombs, on which, perhaps, 
I should never leave the impress of my knee. I 
remained a good while, my head resting on my hand, 
my eyes turned towards the altar, plunged in an abyss of 
reflections, each sadder than the other. I had a friend, 
and God was pleased to take him from me. Thereby, 
no doubt, He wished to disengage me from all those 
earthly comforts on which I loved too much to lean. 

Since, henceforth, God was to be my only guide and 
support, I prayed Him with fervour not to abandon me. 
When I returned to my room, though still dejected, I 
was, however, calm and resigned, I bethought me of 
that incalculable amount of suffering that is spread 
over the earth, and which a prayer, a look towards 
heaven, renders so light. 



303 



CHAP. VI. 

EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS. — ADVENTURES OF A EUROPEAN. — DE- 
RANGEMENT OF A CREOLE. THE SECT OF THE VAUDOUX. — -DANCE 

IN THE MTDST OF SERPENTS. SORCERIES. THE PIONEER. 

PASSION FOR GAMBLING. HISTORY OP MY GUIDE. THE HONEY 

ANTS. WONDERFUL GROTTA. SECRET OF THE THREE LEAVES. — 

HUMAN SACRIFICES OF THE ANCIENT MEXICANS. — A VILLAGE 
SAVANT. ■ — AN OPEN AIR MASS. — THE HEN AND THE CHICKENS. — 

AN UNPARALLELED DESOLATION. THE RECEIVER-GENERAL OF 

BROWNSVILLE. 

In my conversations with the rancheros, I perceived 
that the want of a religious education made their mind 
the slave of superstition, and that there was nothing 
which appeared somewhat singular, that was not to them 
something marvellous and supernatural. Whatever 
wore the semblance of mystery, whatever was the result 
of adroit or secret manipulations, filled them with 
astonishment and awe. They were content to believe 
that surprising things were inexplicable, without making 
the smallest effort to divine the cause, often so easy of 
access. I can, however, urge in apology, that in these 
vast countries, imperfectly explored and badly governed, 
you meet, at almost every step, strange and extra- 
ordinary occurrences. Some proceed from the clever 
mischief of man ; some are the phenomena of nature ; 
some the offshoot of the ancient idolatry. 

A European living at Matamoros had seduced a Mexi- 
can young woman, under promise of marriage ; but at the 
moment of the marriage ceremony he began to hesitate. 



301 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



and ended by retracting his engagement. The girl's 
parents manifested no symptoms of resentment, but to 
all appearance, they continued their social relations with 
the seducer, who was soon persuaded that all was for- 
given. One day, however, he was invited to dine ; and 
after dinner, giddiness, accompanied by violent headache, 
seized him. He cried out that he was poisoned, escaped, 
and made the best of his way to fling himself into the 
Rio Grande, opposite Brownsville. At this point there 
are always passers by, promenaders, and barilleros. He 
was rescued from the water, — his life w r as saved, but 
his reason was gone. Picked up by a Frenchman, and 
conveyed home, he filled the house with cries of terror. 
Every one who met his eye was a poisoner. He refused 
to take any nourishment ; he got away ; flung himself 
once more into the river, and was once more rescued. 
It was then that a coloured woman, who had lived a long 
time in Louisiana, declared that this derangement pre- 
sented all the features of that which proceeds from the 
absorption of liquids, drugs, or perfumes, known only 
to the sect of the Yaudoux. She told how her mother 
became suddenly deranged after visiting the house of a 
Yaudoux ; and declared, with confidence, that if the 
unfortunate could be prevailed upon to contract the 
promised marriage, his derangement would cease. The 
result verified the prediction; for after a visit paid by the 
young man, in a lucid interval, at the house of the young 
woman's parents, his reason came back, and the marriage 
was celebrated. 

This singular fact, which came under my own eyes, 
recalled to my mind that I had seen, in a steam-boat, a 
lithograph representing a Yaudoux dance. It repre- 
sented negroes, coloured people, and whites of both 



INCREDIBLE STORY. 



305 



sexes, entirely naked, forming a circle by joining hands 
and gambolling joyfully in the midst of a number 
of serpents, that entwined themselves about their 
limbs without doing them any harm. Seizing the op- 
portunity of learning something about this singular sect, 
the immorality of which surpasses even that of Mor- 
monism, and whose mysterious power is displayed in 
deadly results, I made inquiries of this woman herself, 
a native of Louisiana, where the Vaudoux were very 
numerous. 

" One day," she said to me, " my mother received a note 
requesting her presence at midnight in a certain house 
on business of serious importance. The signature seemed 
so authentic, that my mother made up her mind to go. 
She durst not inform either her two children or her 
negress of her intentions ; but the negress observing the 
sadness and anxiety impressed on my mother's features 
during the perusal of the note, was curious to learn the 
reason of it. Not attempting any questions, she waited 
for her departure to take the note out of my mother's 
pocket, and asked me to read it aloud. The contents 
had nothing extraordinary in them ; but as I read the 
address of the house, the negress exclaimed, ' Oh ! 
missus, a great evil may perhaps happen, your mother 
is in the house of a Vaudoux.' I went out at once with 
the negress ; and we found the house, which was only one 
story high, having merely a ground floor. As the door 
was unlocked, we entered. Alas ! sir, my mother lay 
senseless on the boards in the middle of a triple circle of 
black ashes. An individual, veiled in black, left the 
room by a back door at the moment of our entrance. 
What had occurred, I have never learned. I took my 
mother in my arms, and, assisted by the negress, carried 

x 



306 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



her out into the street. The freshness of the night re- 
stored her to consciousness ; but she had lost her reason, 
which she never after recovered." 

The sect of the Yaudoux, originally from Africa, as 
it would seem, is widely spread among the negroes of 
the United States and the Antilles. What is its veritable 
end and object ? It is hard to say: but this is certain, 
that its springs of action are self-interest, cupidity, 
and vengeance. They possess important secrets respect- 
ing the properties of certain plants, more or less un- 
known. They make perfumes or poisons, the effects of 
which are widely different ; one kind killing by degrees, 
another like the thunderbolt; while some attack reason 
in different degrees, or destroy it altogether. They are 
also in possession of peculiar antidotes. A large 
number of Creoles, of whites, and of coloured people 
belong to this sect ; and some of them even occupy a 
high position in the society. 

The investigation of the mysteries of the Yaudoux 
would be a curious study, but it is as difficult as it is 
dangerous a task to interfere in their concerns. I was 
told the following, regarding some of their ceremonies, as 
they are often celebrated at New Orleans, at the Suburb 
Treme, in an isolated house, surrounded by a fence of 
boards, and only one story high. One room composed 
nearly the whole house* At the further end of it, 
towards the east, was raised an altar covered over with 
red woollen cloth. This altar was hollow, and filled 
inside with rattle-snakes, congos, and other venomous 
reptiles, which would crawl out during the dance, glide 
about the room, and entwine themselves about the 
persons of the dancers. The Yaudoux undress, without 
doubt, in a closet on the ground floor, for they enter 



VAUDOUX SECT. 



307 



quite naked by the door to the left of the altar. There 
they join hands and form a ring, while a negro takes his 
post in the centre, burns in a perfuming pan a substance 
that diffuses a thick white smoke through the room, 
stoops to the floor, perhaps to trace certain cabalistic 
figures, takes five serpents off the altar, and folds them 
round his neck and limbs. The ring then puts itself 
in motion ; and the whole company, including the 
negro, twist and jump about for a considerable time. 
At length the lights are put out, and the noise ceases as 
darkness comes on. 

This sect inspires such terror into the coloured popu- 
lation and the negroes who belong to it, that you cannot 
get them to procure personal and direct information re- 
garding these mysterious practices. What they say about 
them is so extraordinary, that no reliance can be placed 
in it. I have frequently seen at New Orleans in the 
sequestered streets of the Suburb Treme, boxes of tinned 
iron full of oil, and containing a square-cut stove, 
the size of which varies with the box. They were 
placed at nightfall on the window-sills, but it was long 
before I could get any person to explain to me the 
reason for the boxes being there. No one remarked them ; 
and it was only during the latter days of my stay at 
Texas that I found them out to be specifics against the 
witchery of the Vaudoux. However, they are not 
numerous in Texas, and their sect is unnoticed there, 
except when any singular occurrence, such as the passing 
derangement of the European of Matamoros, suddenly 
recalls its existence. What struck me most was the 
indifference of the American police regarding the 
Vaudoux, an indifference common to all parts in which 
this sect is found. The police, however, know how to 

x 2 



308 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



deal with facts, which, secret though they be, are not 
entirely beyond their jurisdiction. Why do they tolerate 
these orgies, these arbitrary and cruel acts ? Are they 
themselves afraid of the Vaudoux ? 

But if the Vaudoux are few in Texas, it is not so 
with another class of a similar stamp, I mean witches, 
who show their heads in the frontier ranchos of Texas 
and Mexico. Hardly a week passes without poor 
people having to complain of some wickedness practised 
on themselves, their lands, or their cattle. The witch 
the most feared and famous among the rancheros, lived at 
Eamireno, three miles from Brownsville. From her know- 
ledge of the magnetic passes and the properties of herbs 
she used to astonish the poor Mexicans by her charms 
and cures, or else alarm them by her mischievous arts. 
She was held in mysterious respect, mingled with awe. 
I essayed to diminish her influence over the weak 
imaginations of the rancheros by explaining to them 
the means used for their deception ; but I could never 
succeed. Facts were more powerful than words. The 
simplest remedy was to advise them to keep away from 
the company of the sorceress, to have nothing to do with 
her, to live as good Christians ; calling to their memory, 
" If God is for us, who shall be against us ? " At the 
same time I demanded of the witch to change her trade, 
threatening, in case she did any mischief, to have an 
inquiry. In the country parts of the Texan frontiers, 
there are traditions or stories rife about the secrets of 
natural history ; and you learn astonishing things, which 
it would be as unreasonable to deny without proof, as 
to admit without examination. In the course of the 
November of 1851, 1 proceeded, under the guidance of a 
peon (a kind of white slave), to a rancho where a poor 



THE PEON SLAVES. 



309 



woman was about to expire ; but having a marriage and 
several baptisms to perform in another rancho not far 
distant, I took along with me the vestments and other 
necessaries for the holy mass. 

These peons are nearly all reduced to slavery by 
misery, idleness, or gambling. Their servitude is not 
hereditary, and seldom even endures for life. The p6on 
engages his services for a certain number of years, 
during which he is to labour on the land, to tend the 
cattle and deliver the messages of his master. On the 
other hand, the master is bound to supply his wants, 
and even sometimes gives him a small salary. In the 
countries that I have lived in, the condition of the white 
slave is by no means wretched ; it is quite different 
from that of the niggers in the United States. In 
general, the peon eats with his master and is almost 
similarly clad ; and it is hard at first sight to distinguish 
the one from the other. He enjoys much liberty and 
labours little. It is principally gambling that multiplies 
the peons. 

My conductor was a humorous, poetic, story-telling 
kind of fellow. He sang a good many love ditties of 
his own composition, and when tired of singing he 
recited some mystic verses, a few of which attracted 
my attention. I asked him what he was reciting. 

" It is my Christmas part." 

"What part?" 

" Ah ! true, Senor, you do not yet know all our 
customs." 

" Well, for Christmas Eve we represent at the rancho 
the birth of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, as is usual in a 
good many villages of Mexico. Three rancheros act 
the part of the ' wise men,' and I am one of them. 

x 3 



BIO 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Others are shepherds, and sing hymns to the accom- 
paniment of the mandoline. The youngest and hand- 
somest rancheros are the angels and intone the anthems-" 

He went on for half an hour giving the detail of the 
ceremony. It was not without pleasure that 9000 
miles from France, I found the representation of mys- 
teries once so common in Europe. 

While we thus chatted, we reached the banks of a 
large resaca of limpid transparence. It formed an oval 
regularly-shaped lake, skirted, as though by a frame- 
work, with palm trees, ebony trees, cedars, green oaks, 
and sycamores ; while the wild vines connected one with 
the other by their graceful garlands, and a verdant slope 
adorned with fern and flowers, trended from the foot of 
the trees to the water's edge. A multitude of water 
fowls gambolled beneath. In the distance we saw stags 
and tawny animals slaking their thirst. In the midst 
of the lake was a woody island. A cloudless, azure 
sky completed this picture so full of charm and poetry. 
I was enchanted with the spectacle, and communicated 
my feelings to my peon. 

" Oh ! " said he, " if you went in the direction of the 
Red River, you would see sights more beautiful than 
this." 

" There is, then, a Red River near this place ?" 

" Yes, it is very curious, especially at the Paso del 
Gigante. It is a ford, that gets its name on account of 
the bones of giants buried there. I have seen bones 
twelve or fourteen feet in length, but all that have ap- 
peared have been carried off, and the earth is so hard that 
the pickaxe cannot enter it. However, if the curiosities 
of the country have any interest for you, I can relate 
to you extraordinary stories, for Don Ignacio Garcia 



THE MYSTERIOUS HONEY ANT. 



311 



has travelled a good deal in the solitary valleys, and 
learned a good deal which his fellow countrymen knew 
nothing about." 

" And who is this Don Ignacio Garcia ? " 

" Ha ! Senor Don Emmanuel, you don't see that it is 
I myself?" 

" Well, Senor Don Ignacio Garcia, you have seen in 
my house serpents and living animals, and minerals 
enough to be assured that I have a fancy for curiosities. 
Do me then the pleasure of relating your travels and 
discoveries." 

" With great pleasure, but on one condition : that 
you keep the secret while in the Mexican frontiers." 
11 1 promise you." 

" First of all, I swear that every word I tell you is 
as true, as it is that our Lady, Dona Guadalupe, is 
patroness of Mexico." 

" I have no doubt : but commence." 

" There is," begins gravely, Don Ignacio, " in the state 
of Tomaulipos a valley little known, where are found 
ants of an enormous size, which make honey; and 
their honey is still sweeter than the honey of the wild 
bee, which, however, is the sweetest of all. They seem 
half buried in the earth, while others of the same 
family feed them while they are making the honey. 
This honey is formed in a vesicle adhering to the ant, 
and when the vesicle is full the ant dies." 

Here I interrupted Don Ignacio, for the purpose of 
telling him that I had seen at Matamoros, an American 
gentleman, named Langstroth, who preserved in a glass 
vessel a few of these vesicles. They are about the 
size and shape of a raisin-grain. The honey has 

x 4 



312 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the colour and transparence of a beautiful topaz of 
Brazil. As to the ant. it resembles the ordinary ant, 
and there it remains in the vesicle as though buried in 
its own work. I asked for some details about its repro- 
duction, but the existence of this insect is so little 
known that I could never succeed in obtaining any 
further information about it. 

Don Ignacio, however, had promised me unexpected 
revelations. Seeing that I knew as much about the 
ant as himself, he began to think awhile, and started a 
new topic, in which I did not interrupt him. 

" Ten years ago (it was then I herded the flocks of 
Dona Trinidad Flores), as I was pursuing a mustang, 
I penetrated into a very narrow gorge of the State of 
Nuevo Leon. To the right and to the left I saw 
only rocks and crags heaped up in confusion, as though 
the mountain had fallen in. I observed nothing in the 
shape of a tree beyond a plaquemine, a kind of medlar 
tree, which grew up in this chaos. I wished to draw 
near it, to rest beneath its shade and eat some of 
its black sweet fruit. In climbing up a slope, I 
caused some stones covered over by the moss to roll 
down, and, in their displacement, they laid bare the 
mouth of a deep grotta. I determined on entering ; 
but, at a distance of twenty paces, I was brought to a halt 
by a wall, which, from feeling it, I found had not been 
built with lime and mortar, so that in less than five 
minutes I had it all down, and there opened before me a 
large lofty room lighted by a fissure in the rock. At the 
furthest extremity rose a square altar made of polished 
stones, the uppermost consisting of one solid block. 
On the altar lay a piece of pure, massive gold, oblong 
in form, a foot long by two inches wide, while over the 



THE RICH GKOTTA. 



313 



altar stood out in relief against the wall, a frightful 
grimacing figure made of red clay. The body was 
covered with a bundle of maize-straw, in which were 
set seven pins of gold, and several silver leaves tarnished 
by time. Near the figure was to be seen a garment 
decorated with red, yellow, and blue feathers, and in 
form resembling the chasuble of our priests. At such 
a sight I stood amazed, not knowing what to do. I 
soon recovered, however, and folded the piece of gold 
in my handkerchief, put the seven pins in my pocket, 
leaving the silver leaves untouched, as being too 
slender to have much value. I closed with care both 
entrances to the grotta, and returned to the rancho of 
Dona Trinidad, which was a good way from me. Before 
reaching it, I buried my treasure in a private spot. 
I sold part of it at Monterey, purchased my freedom, 
and went to San Luis de Potosi to dispose of the rest. 
Although the goldsmith robbed me, without a doubt, I 
still got out of him two talagres of gold.* 

" I had now wherewith to purchase a pretty rancho, 
to cultivate it and grow rich, but I was fond of gambling 
and roving, and could not settle down. After sending 
my mother, who lived at Tula, three talagres of silver, I 
bought a splendid horse, with bridle and saddle all 
mounted with silver, and made an excursion to Puebla, 
Mexico, and Guadalajara. I played a good deal 
wherever I went-, and got on so well, that in twelve 
months I was almost penniless. It then occurred to me 
to go and visit my mother. I retraced my steps, and 
before crossing the State of Zacataca, I halted at 

* The talagre is a measure equal to a thousand large pieces ; 
and of gold it is worth 16,000 piastres (960/.); of silver, 1000 
piastres (2001.) 



314 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Saltillo, in the house of one of my co-godfathers, called 
Medina, whose mother was an Indian. 

" Medina was old and sickly, and one day taking me 
aside he said to me, 4 Don Ignacio, I mean to confide 
to you a secret, known only to two Indians and myself. 
As it ought to become the benefice of one alone, none of 
us made any use of it ; but I fear the Indians may 
divulge it before they quit the world. I am sick and 
childish, and shall intrust it to you. Should you mean 
to make any use of it, you will see what precautions 
are required. Without them you run a great risk. 
Let us saddle our horses, and I shall tell you forthwith.' 

" We left for the mountain district, and went at a 
cantering pace the whole way. Having rested in the 
evening, we resumed our journey at night, 1 For,' said 
my comrade, i we must not be seen by either of the 
Indians, who live near the spot for which we are 
making.' In the midst of the darkness we gained the 
entrance of a narrow valley. The horses were left 
here, and we began to ascend a craggy little hill, on 
which, despite of the darkness, I distinguished nepals and 
pitas. We had been clambering a quarter of an hour, 
when my co- father halted, plucked three leaves from 
three plants of the same kind, and said, • Take those 
three leaves, Don Ignacio ; keep them carefully. When 
they are dry, grind and put them into a crucible ; 
their very presence instantly separates gold and silver 
from every alloy.' I put the leaves carefully in my 
breast pocket, fully impressed with the importance of 
the secret, and we returned to Saltillo. I impressed 
on my memory certain marks to distinguish this 
favoured valley, and at daylight I stealthily eyed the 
three leaves. I had never seen similar ones before. 



THE THREE MAGIC LEAVES. 



315 



They were long, like tobacco leaves, much of the same 
shape, and covered with a white down, that made them 
to the touch as soft as velvet. 

"To turn this discovery to account, I betook myself to 
the silver mines of Guanajuato, in the mountains 
bordering on Mexico. I applied to one of the richest 
proprietors of the mines, a man of acknowledged pro- 
bity, and I offered him my secret, and to conduct him 
to the lucky spot for four talagres of gold. He con- 
sented, but on condition of making a previous experi- 
ment with the three leaves that I had with me. The 
experiment succeeded beyond our hopes. The use of a 
process so simple would be attended with a vast saving 
in the working of mines ; so that, without a day's delay, 
the proprietor and myself set off for Saltillo. We 
entered at night, not to awake the attention of my 
co-father. I found the valley ; but imagine my dis- 
appointment at not discovering a single leaf of the kind 
we sought after. We traversed the valley in every 
direction — all in vain — yet there it was. In several 
points the earth seemed to have been lately dug up. 
AYhat made the plants disappear I have never learned. 
So we had to retrace our steps, downcast and crest- 
fallen. The proprietor was sorry enough not to have 
kept one of the leaves, to send it to a Mexican botanist, 
in order to learn its name and where it might be found. 

"As to myself, with the little money that remained to 
me I bought some oxen and two carts, for conveying 
goods from Matamoros to Monterey. Unfortunately, 
by degrees I lost gains, carts, and oxen at play, and 
became a barillero at Brownsville, then peon. At present 
I am master of the unfortunate passion, but I conduct 
myself well, and work a good deal. My master is going 



316 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



to grant me my liberty, and to give me in marriage one 
of his daughters, for whom I have a fancy. I shall live 
quietly at the rancho, and I promise you to build a 
chapel and open a cemetery/' 

"These are good resolutions," I observed, "let us 
only hope they may be lasting, and that industrious 
and prudent courses may bring you a fortune as large 
as you met with by chance and lost by dissipation. As 
to your grotta, I heard an ecclesiastic of Guadalajara, 
whom I met at Matamoros, recount an adventure that 
bore a striking resemblance to that of your story. 
These, with other data, make me believe that the 
ancient Mexicans did not confine themselves to the 
public celebration of human sacrifices on those immense 
truncated pyramids, those colossal temples, the majestic 
ruins of which are still to be met with. The Indians 
had, besides, particular sacrifices offered up in secluded 
and mysterious spots, such as you happened to meet 
with. 

" Indeed, Spanish historians, of the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, inform us that in several regions 
of the West Indies the natives adored local deities in 
solitary spots and grottas, and that they sacrificed also 
on the mountains. The Indians of the island of Cuba 
used to perform pilgrimages to a cavern called Loaboma, 
in which they adored two divinities, of the name Maroba 
and Bintatel. They offered fruits, flowers, gold, pearls, 
and animals. In the same island in the desert was 
another idol, of the name Conocotto, famous for his 
extraordinary adventures, his invisible travels, and 
the dangers which he had escaped by miracle. The 
Cacique Guam area held this idol in such veneration 
that he offered sacrifice to it daily. 



HUMAN SACRIFICES. 



317 



" Every year the Tlaxcanallians used to offer a human 
sacrifice on the mountain in order to obtain a good crop. 
They would wait until the maize had got a foot above 
ground, which used to be in the month of March. They 
then took a boy and girl, three years old, the children of 
free parents, in the vicinity of the town, brought them 
in procession to a mountain, and immolated them to the 
god Tlaloc. The hearts were not torn out, as was the 
custom in other sacrifices, but the heads were cut off, and 
the bodies buried with new winding sheets. This 
month of March, which was the first month of the year 
among the Tlaxcanallians, was specially devoted to 
sacrifice, in order to draw down the protection of the 
gods. On the last day of the month, called Tlaxcaxi- 
penaliztli, the Tlaxcanallians offered sacrifice to their 
favourite god, Camaxtle, the victims being a hundred 
slaves. The victims were laid on their backs on a 
raised stone at the top of the temple, and the priests 
opened their breasts with a flint or obsidierme * knife, 
tore out the heart, placed it at the foot of the altar, and 
besmeared the idols with the reeking blood of the vic- 
tims. A score of them were then flayed, and their 
blood-stained skins were bestowed on as many famous 
warriors, who put them on forthwith. The idols were 
usually made of marble, jasper, baked earth, gold, or 
silver ; sometimes composed of divers substances, and 
ornamented with the precious metals. There were 
some, a mixture of maize and honey, or all kinds of 
Mexican seeds kneaded in the blood of boys and girls. 
When the temples and idols were being demolished by 
the Spaniards, after the conquest of Fernand Cortez, 

* A greenish transparent stone of volcanic origin. 



318 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



several divinities of smaller dimensions were concealed 
by the Indians in the caves and woods, or else buried 
in the earth. 

" The amount of heads and statuettes of baked earth- 
enware that you meet with everywhere, proves that 
the greater part of the great tribes that constituted 
the Mexican empire had their household gods. These 
little divinities were generally sent to the priests, who 
deposited them in the temples, that they might be 
sprinkled with human gore, and thus blessed after their 
manner. The priests had also other small figures, 
which they distributed among pilgrims. Numbers of 
those figures are found at the base of large temples, 
and especially at San Juan-de-Teotihuacan. The 
Spaniards, in course of time, forced the Mexicans to 
give up all these little idols, for the sake of the precious 
metals that either ornamented or constituted the greater 
part of them. Still a large quantity must remain in 
sequestered places. 

" The tools used by the Mexicans, as well for sacrifice 
as for private purposes, were of wrought bronze, which 
was a good substitute for steel, or else of obsidienne. 
The silver mines most easily worked and favoured 
by climate are those of Guanajuato, which are very 
rich. Before the discovery of the cold process {amalga- 
mation afroid), a process whereby the poorest mineral 
is made to yield its metal without the application of 
fire, and which is due to a Mexican of the name 
Medina, the silver mines of Mexico had not been much 
worked, for want of wood or other fuel in the neigh- 
bourhood of the mines. 

" The sacerdotal garment found in the cave, proves 
the truth of the statements made by Spanish his- 



FOOD OF SUPERSTITION. — THE SAVANT. 3 1 9 

torians, that the ancient Mexican priests wore vest- 
ments bearing a resemblance, in shape, to the vestments 
of the Catholic priest. In a work of Gonzalez Ferdi- 
nandez de Oviedo, on the voyages and conquests of 
Fernand Cortez, which was translated into French, 
and published, I believe, at Amsterdam, in 1588, we 
read that among the presents received by Cortez from 
Montezuma there were — 4 surplices and vestments of 
idolatrous priests, copes, frontals, and hangings of 
temples and altars.' 

" To be brief, those singular stories have the sad 
effect of keeping alive superstition and the love of the 
marvellous among this indolent people, plunged, as they 
are, in the deepest ignorance. I met in the ranchos 
only one would-be savant. He was small in stature, 
dressed in black, with a low, round hat on his head, 
giving him the air of a village schoolmaster. He 
had a high opinion of himself, and never doubted about 
the extent of his knowledge, as he knew some old 
French books, that he thought were Latin. He told 
me, with pride, that he had the Theology of St. Thomas, 
the apostle. Having no wish to lower him in the esti- 
mation of the people who were present, by telling him 
that the apostle and the theologian were quite distinct 
personages, I only asked him for the book. He 
brought me a French medical treatise entitled the 
Summa Theologica. Still the good soul seemed in 
earnest, and imagined he knew what he could not read." 

At length we reached the rancho where I was 
expected. I administered extreme unction to the dying 
woman, who had not seen a priest for sixty years ; 
and, after partaking of a tortilla steeped in coffee made 
out of burnt maize, I took my seat on a wooden 



320 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



bench, under an old oak tree. The proprietor of 
the rancho sat by my side, with about thirty rancheros, 
of every age and sex, squatted around us. The 
cigarette was lit, and we began to talk about the 
improvements to be made in the village, and its future. 
Some related personal adventures, more or less interest- 
ing, and 1 talked to them of France, of her power, her 
agriculture, her army, her civil and religious institu- 
tions, and her old cathedrals. Railways, and especially 
electric telegraphs, were to them wonders incompre- 
hensible. They were so on the tip-toe of attention that 
we prolonged the conversation till far in the night, with- 
out perceiving it. At last, however, we separated, with 
many hearty shake-hands and good-nights mutually 
bestowed, and slept soundly on the grass, here and 
there, with our bed-clothes round us. 

Next morning, I repeated my breviary on the banks of 
the Rio # Grande. This over, I took a little bell and went 
about the outskirts of the rancho ringing it, to call the 
people to mass, where I had prepared at the foot of a large 
sycamore tree an altar, consisting of two meal tubs, over 
which I placed a hut door. Two bottles, covered with 
moss, supplied me in the place of candlesticks, and I hung 
my crucifix against a tree, around which I had drawn 
hangings, tent-shape, of muslin mantillas and shawls. 
My rustic altar had an aspect at once graceful and 
picturesque. After my third summons, the ranch eros 
arrived in crowds and in their gala dress. Some had 
come a long way, having previous knowledge of my 
arrival. At the moment of vesting I found that I had 
forgotten the alb at Brownsville. What was I to 
do ? In the rancho there was no white stuff that 
might be rendered available. After long and useless 



A PARABLE. 



321 



searches, I recollected having seen a hut whose ceiling 
consisted of a piece of unbleached calico. Cutting it 
into the form of an alb was the work of a moment, and 
I commenced the holy sacrifice in the midst of the most 
profound contemplation. 

The rancheros were kneeling on the grass round the 
altar, and shaded by the sycamore leaves. After the 
gospel, I turned round towards my audience as usual, and 
began to preach on the parable of the husbandman, who 
sowed seed in his land. At this moment, I could not re- 
frain from admiring the picture that opened before my 
eyes. This motley crowd, all silent, squatted in oriental 
fashion on the green grass ; this young stranger who 
announced to them the word of God ; this altar, so 
simple and so fresh beneath a dome of nature's verdure in 
the midst of a vast country ; the sun gilding with 
glory this richly fertile plain ; the birds singing their 
most joyous notes ; all produced within me a feeling of 
poesy and happiness that I would not exchange for the 
most noisy joys of the heart. 

After speaking for a quarter of an hour, I stopped for 
a few moments to wipe away the perspiration that flowed 
down my face — for, far advanced though the season 
was, it was still very hot. During this respite an old 
man, an octogenarian and more, bald and venerable in 
appearance, continued the discourse. 

"Once upon a time," said he, " there was a hen which 
had twelve chickens that never left her side, and three 
more that rambled away from her. The hen did all she 
could to support her brood ; but the land was sterile, 
and there was no grain. One day a hawk that was in 
search of prey espied the hen and her brood, and darted 
down upon them. The terrified hen called her young ; 

Y 



322 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the twelve that were close to her took refuge under her 
wings and were saved ; but the three that were roaming 
did not hear her cry and were eaten up. Your Reve- 
rence," added the old man, "you are the hen. The twelve 
chickens are the people of Brownsville. The three scat- 
tered chickens are the rancheros. The hawk is the devil, 
who has always some victims amongst us." Astonished 
at first, I heard out this allegory with a good deal of in- 
terest, but not one laughed. My surprise, however, 
ceased, when I recognised, in my interlocutor, a worthy 
old Mexican priest, who had for some years past fallen 
into second childhood. Not losing self-possession, I 
said on this subject to my good rancheros : 

" The Holy Scripture tells us that the ' devil goeth 
about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour ' ; 
but if we remain ever faithful to the law of God, if we 
observe his commandments — in a word, if w T e live as 
good Christians, — we have nothing to dread from the 
spirit of evil, and we shall die worthy children of God." 

After mass, I took a slight collation, and, ac- 
companied by my guide and several rancheros, I pursued 
my journey to a village where I had a marriage and 
several baptisms to perform. We had to pass along a 
pathway so narrow, tortuous and obstructed, that it was 
with much ado our horses could make their way through 
the briars and branches that crossed us in all directions. 
We then passed over glades and prairies where the 
earth was so light and soft that sometimes it gave way 
under our horses' feet. The rancheros call these tierras 
falsas, (treacherous grounds) : after rain they are very 
dangerous ; man and horse sometimes sink and disap- 
pear in them, as in shaking prairies. We then saw a 
large number of wild turkeys and roebucks that 
made off on our approach. 



THE FANDANGO PASSION. 



323 



We arrived without injury at our destination in the 
afternoon of the same day. The village consisted of 
fifteen or twenty tents at most, raised on the edge of a 
forest and an immense plain of maize, watered by the 
Rio Grande. In order to impart more solemnity to the 
religious ceremonies, it was determined that their cele- 
bration should take place next morning after mass. 

The village was crowded with rancheros who had 
come a long way, I should think, with a few exceptions, 
rather to dance the fandango than to assist at mass. 
Some lived so far as fifty miles off, a circumstance that 
may give an idea of their passion for dancing, and of 
how little they make of time and distance. When even- 
ing came, a stage for the musicians was erected beneath 
an oak ; the benches for the rancheros were put in 
position; a meal hogshead, whose ends were replaced 
by parchment, answered for a big drum; while a clarionet 
and mandoline completed the orchestra. Lanterns were 
suspended from the branches of the trees, and the ball 
commenced. 

The preaching, long fasts, and fatigues I had to un- 
dergo on like occasions, used to give me a violent head- 
ache, not much remedied by the sound of the big 
drum. I went to bed. The bed destined for me was 
in the hut of the future bride. Near the bed was the 
greater number of the family, who talked and bawled 
and laughed in such a manner as to keep me from rest, 
even if my fatigues had allowed it. 

I lay down in my clothes; and to increase my enjoy- 
ment, a multitude of insects of every kind rose up in 
war against me. Unable to enjoy either quiet or sleep, 
I got up, and went out for a walk in the outskirts of the 
village ; but falling down from lassitude and sleepiness, 



324 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



I betook myself to an old cart, which I espied in the dis- 
tance, and perched myself on its pole, which had been 
squared with the axe. The effort I had to make 
to retain my equilibrium, kept me from rest, and in 
utter despair I went and threw myself at the foot of a 
tree, and passed the remainder of the night meditating 
on these poor people, whom I could observe by the pale 
light of the lanterns, enjoying the sport of the dance. 
These dark shadows skipping in the distance beneath 
the branches of the mighty oak, to the horrid sound of 
the eternal bum-bum, presented a strange and fantastic 
picture. I thought of the witch dance. One of the 
dancers, under the influence of drink, or from sheer love 
of plunder, seized the opportunity to commit some thefts. 
He was caught in the very act, judged, and in punish- 
ment, tied to a tree for the rest of the night. He fell 
asleep ; and during his slumbers, one of his judges 
stole his shoes off his feet. The robber awoke robbed. 

At sunrise, the ball being over, I prepared the altar, 
as on the evening previous, under a tree. For want of 
a bell to apprise the rancheros of mass hour, I employed 
children, who ran from hut to hut to hurry on the 
loiterers. The entire congregation assembled around 
me were about five hundred souls. After mass and 
exhortation, I performed the marriage ceremony. The 
bride had to leave the same day with her husband for his 
place of residence, at a distance of fifty miles. During 
the ceremony her mother and relatives began crying; 
the bridesmaids joined in the chorus, and soon both 
bride and mother went off in a fainting fit. In my life 
I had never witnessed such desolation; but the Mexicans 
are never at a loss for tears. I then baptized five 
children, who capped the climax in this scene of tears, 
the whole five crying at once, with an energy of which 



THE HUMOROUS RECEIVER. 



325 



I could never have conceived them capable. 1 hardly 
understood the prayers which I recited, for my wretched 
aching head sang its own unheard airs. I feared I should 
go mad. Tears they say are contagious ; so the cere- 
mony was hardly over when I took my horse and 
escaped at full speed to Brownsville. I met Don 
Eduardo on my way. He was an Irishman who filled 
the post of receiver-general of the country and collector 
of taxes. Before his time, the constables received more 
gunshots than piastres, so that there was no great 
competition for the occupation. Don Eduardo knew 
how sweetness and moderation would render him ac- 
ceptable and successful with the Mexicans. When they 
could not pay the taxes in kind, they gave cattle and 
commodities as equivalents. The collector sold the 
cattle and commodities, and found a profit in the sale. 
The Mexican got over the tax and the public demands 
were met, both sides were satisfied. The Irish are very 
clever in acquitting themselves in countries where they 
are driven by circumstances. 

Don Eduardo was at this very time returning from 
the discharge of duty in which he had succeeded 
in paying all arrears, so that he was in the best 
imaginable spirits. Being naturally quaint and witty, 
his company gave me a good deal of pleasure. He was 
full of anecdote and adventure. He stopped at every 
rancho, and had a shake-hands with every one. He 
w T as co-father to all the inhabitants of the frontiers. I 
thought we should never reach Brownsville, for it was 
midnight, and we were only at Santa Rita. He asked 
me to sup with one of his numerous co-gossips. Hungry 
and tired as I was, I accepted the invitation. After the 
meal he examined his revolver and changed the caps. I 

Y 3 



326 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



asked him if he had reckoned on killing any one on the 
way. 

" It is possible," he replied, " we may be attacked in 
the Cut-throat for the sake of our horses, and espe- 
cially of my money. It is well known that I have 
always piastres with me from my excursions." 

" What you say makes me regret having joined you as 
a companion, and having been overtaken by night at 
a distance from Brownsville, for I have no arms." 

14 Oh ! don't fear," he says, " it is moonlight ; you will 
be recognised ; and you know the Mexicans never injure 
a priest." 

We continued our dialogue, and arrived at Browns- 
ville without killing any one. 



327 



CHAP. VII. 

MANTA TRADE. CARVAJAL. — ■ A WAR OF DEALERS. COMMENCE- 
MENT OF HOSTILITIES. — PRUDENT SOLDIERS. — AM ASSAILED WITH 

A VOLLEY AT A DISTANCE OF TWENTY PACES. END OF THE 

SIEGE OF MATAMOROS. — BATTLE OF CAMARGO. — TWO CONQUERORS 
WHO DO NOT DOUBT THEMSELVES. — PRISONERS OF WAR. AT- 
TEMPTS TO ESCAPE. HISTORY OF A PRUDENT GENERAL. CON- 
DEMNATION. INFLICTION OF DEATH. THE HOLY VIATICUM. 

EXECUTION. RETURN TO BROWNSVILLE. 

The trade in unbleached cotton stuff, or manta, is most 
important along the Mexican frontiers. The rancheros 
use an enormous quantity of it for inner and light gar- 
ments and for manual purposes. The Mexican govern- 
ment, with a view of developing the manufacture of this 
article, gave a monopoly of it to fifty merchants, chiefly 
English and Spanish. The number of persons employed 
in it rose to 214,509 ; and from the establishment of the 
monopoly up to 1850, — seventeen years — the factories 
had issued upwards of fifteen million pieces of that 
material. Wishing to protect this branch of national 
industry, the Mexican government had laid such a tax 
on foreign fabrics, as amounted to a prohibition. This 
would have been a deadly blow to the frontier trade of 
Texas, had not smuggling assumed colossal proportions 
along the line of the Rio Grande, very inefficiently 
watched by about a dozen custom-house officers. 

However, the merchants of Brownsville and those of 
Matamoros suffered alike from this state of things ; for 

Y 4 



323 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the transit trade, being contraband, extended along the 
river banks instead of being concentrated in both 
towns. They conspired to excite a popular movement 
against the monopoly, and committed to General Car- 
vajal the task of revolutionising the States of Cohahuila, 
Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon. 

General Carvajal was a Mexican, brave and enter- 
prising ; more a distinguished soldier, I believe, than a 
good leader. He had been educated at a Jesuit college 
in the United States. He was of middle size, sym- 
metrically formed, and had regular features : his lively 
eye spoke at once address and energy. During the war 
between Mexico and the United States, his part was some- 
what equivocal. For some time he had cherished the pro- 
ject of rousing the Mexican frontier States, either to force 
the government to some administrative reforms, or to 
organise a little republic independent of Mexico, which 
should take the name of "The Republic of Sierra Madre." 

General Avalos, commander of the Mexican forces of 
Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, and Cohahuila got a hint 
of what was going on. Carvajal being at Camargo, a 
troop of lancers was despatched to arrest him, but he 
had timely warning of his danger, and escaped to Rio 
Grande city, whence he opened negociations with the 
merchants of Brownsville, for money, munitions of war, 
and all requisites for organising the insurrection. He 
promised twenty-five piastres a month to every recruit. 
A crowd of American adventurers, who had fought in 
1846-7, were attracted by the hope of plunder and the 
love of novelty. A couple of hundred discontented 
Mexicans joined this troop. Carvajal marched on Ca- 
margo, which, for want of soldiers, was taken without a 
blow ; but he lost precious time in waiting, doubtless 



MERCHANT WAR. 



329 



the fulfilment of the promises of the merchants of 
Brownsville and Matamoros. 

Meantime these had changed their plans. Possibly 
they dreaded the frightful consequences if Carvajal was 
conqueror. They invited Avalos to a grand entertainment, 
at which they discussed the measures to be taken against 
Carvajal. It was shown that the government troops, 
not being sufficiently numerous to defend Matamoros 
with any chance of success, the national guard should 
be called out at once, and a supply of money and fire- 
arms provided. The merchants, who had no fancy for 
personal contributions, counselled the admission of 
American cotton stuffs at a low duty, which might be 
partially applied in suppressing the insurrectionary 
movement. The other money would naturally go into 
Avalos's pocket. This suggestion opened a smiling view 
before the general, who decreed forthwith the proposed 
reform, despite the remonstrances of the superintendent 
of customs. 

Carvajal was entertained with promises, and halted at 
Eeynosa, as he had before at Camargo ; so that for eight 
days or upwards, bales of cotton crossed the Rio Grande 
that might be estimated at the value of half a million of 
piastres. This transaction was little known, and there- 
fore little talked of. The Mexican markets had a 
supply for a long time ; but the smaller frontier markets 
found no more outlet for their goods. Their interests 
had been sacrificed ; and they gave notice of events to 
Carvajal, who in his fury committed to the flames some 
of the convoys of goods that were making for the 
interior. Unfortunately the goods had been sold at 
cash payments to the merchants of the interior, and 
they were the sufferers. 



330 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Carvajal at length turned on Matamoros, whence the 
civic authorities, though they had made such preparation 
against him, sent him a deputation to know his in- 
tentions, and pray him to discharge his American 
soldiers, engaging at the same time to arrange all things 
for the best, provided that his proceedings did not 
savour of foreign intervention calculated to wound the 
self-love of the nation. But he refused, alleging that he 
could place no reliance on their promises while Avalos, 
his deadly enemy, remained at Matamoros, and saying 
he could not dismiss his Americans, who were his very 
best soldiers. 

Next evening, with about fifty men he took up a 
position in Fort Paredes. This fort, which is quite 
near the town, consisted of some embankments raised 
in 1846, to protect Matamoros against the army of 
General Taylor. The only gun in the hands of the 
assailants opened fire at once ; but at the third round it 
became useless ; on the second day, at ten o'clock in the 
morning, Carvajal seized upon the hut of the customs- 
collectors, situated opposite Brownsville. This was 
rather a piece of military parade than a stroke o^ 
strategy. The inhabitants of Matamoros fired a few ill- 
aimed shots at him, which fell on the other bank at 
Brownsville, and had the effect of putting to flight 
those drawn together there from curiosity. Carvajal 
then decided on forcing his way into Matamoros ; and his 
column scattered itself through the streets, and began an 
irregular skirmish, in which each man fired on either 
side without aim or order. The fusilade soon re-echoed 
through every street. 

A little after the firing began, General Avalos was 
hit in the thigh by a spent ball, and was at once 



SIEGE OF MATAMOROS. 



carried to his house. A few of the combatants, and 
some curious on-lookers, were either killed or wounded. 
At this moment Carvajal had only to urge on his 
soldiers a little to become complete master of the town ; 
but these, instead of advancing towards the Plaza- 
Major, the centre of defence, adopted the more prudent 
plan of hiding in the houses, and advancing slowly 
by apertures made in the walls and partitions. The 
besieged taking courage, pointed their cannon against 
the houses that screened the assailants, and forced the 
latter to scamper for their lives. During the night 
Carvajal ordered his troops to re-enter fort Paredes. 
This was a stupid mistake. The besieged hastened to 
form lofty barricades with bales of manta, and to cover 
roofs with sacks of earth, from behind which Avalos' 
men could fire upon the besiegers, if they should 
attempt to enter again, while they themselves were 
quite protected. Thus the defence was better or- 
ganised ; and from this moment it might have been 
foretold that the hesitation, if not the incapacity, of the 
Americans had snatched from them a victory which 
was within their grasp. 

I passed part of the night in spiritual attendance on 
some of Carvajal's men who had been wounded, and 
were taken from the Brownsville side to a temporary 
hospital. As daylight appeared, thinking there might 
be at Matamoros a good many wounded of both forces, 
and that the Mexican cure could not be equal to the 
task of attending all, I crossed the Eio Grande, and 
took a wretched nag, abandoned near the deserted hut 
of the customs collectors, and made off on him at a 
gallop, hoping thus the more effectually to escape 
the balls of both sides, between which I had to pass. 



332 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



I penetrated without accident as far as the large 
street that led to the square; but I found myself at 
once in front of a strong barricade, and heard around 
me gun-shots without seeing a mortal. However, 
thanks to the bad aim of the marksmen. I got within 
twenty feet of the barricades without being hit. There 
were then thirty muskets aimed at me. It being too late 
to fly, I suddenly drew the reins, and driving the spurs 
into my horse's ribs made him rear erect, while a volley 
teas fired, and a number of balls sped hissing past my 
ears, — I escaped, but the poor animal that served me 
as a shield, had three balls through his body, and 
fell before the guns could be reloaded. I ran to the 
barricade. The captain in command then recognised 
me, and was much distressed by what had occurred. 

£; Why the d — 1 have you come here without white 
colours ? " he said to me. 

" I did not think they were required when one was 
alone and unarmed," was my reply. 

The barricade might be assailed every moment, and 
my position was becoming more critical. There was 
no time for wasting words ; and I informed the officer 
of my errand. 

V I am come to confess the dying ; where is the 
cure? " 

" You cannot see him. They are righting in the 
streets." 

" Where is the hospital ? " 
" Just hard by." 

I ran to it, but was rather surprised to find there 
only four wounded. The fighting had continued for 
twenty-four hours. Several hundred cannon shot, and 
upwards of twenty thousand cartridges had been used, 



carvajal's sumptuous dinner. 



333 



yet the loss on both sides was only a few in killed and 
wounded. Blessed be God ! the horses had suffered 
more than the men. 

On leaving the hospital, a negro who had come there, 
I don't know how, addressed me by my name. Seeing 
that I looked at him with an air of surprise, he said : 

" How is it you don't know me ? I have a brother 
who is in the service of your bishop. I have another 
who is the servant of the Archbishop of St. Louis. A 
third is with the Archbishop of Oregon, a fourth 
who—" 

I interrupted him, saying, "Tell me about your 
brothers another time. The place is not well chosen 
for a conversation." 

Judging my presence at Matamoros unnecessary, I 
returned to Brownsville, where they thought I was 
no more. 

The same evening Carvajal sent for me, begging of 
me to go and attend the wounded at Matamoros con- 
cealed in a certain spot, and who could not have been 
transported to Brownsville, either because their wounds 
were too serious, or that they were deserters from the 
United States' army. I went forthwith to Fort Paredes, 
where I found the general dining on sprats {sardines) 
and a bit of bread. I put myself at his disposal. Next 
day he sent me a Mexican guide, and I went on foot so 
that I might run less risk. 

Arrived at the Eue du Commerce, at the end of 
which was a barricade and a battery of large guns, 
I heard a heavy explosion succeeded by a shrill whist- 
ling sound. A brick-house had fallen behind us. 
My companion fell, a ball carried away his thigh and 
abdomen. I took the unfortunate man to a neigh- 



334 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



bouring street and knocked at several doors to find 
some one who would look after him ; but all that 
were not in the conflict had fled to Brownsville. My 
position was becoming critical, and I knew not what to 
do, ignorant as I was of the place where Carvajal's 
wounded lay. Fortunately, an American officer who 
was passing by pointed it out to me. I discovered a 
wretched hovel in which lay stretched six men mortally 
wounded, while an Irish surgeon, a most worthy and 
devoted man, was tending them. I begged of him to 
go and see after my poor guide, and exhorted my 
patients, as I administered to them the last consolations 
of religion. Five of them unfortunately died shortly 
after. 

Returning to Fort Paredes, I met a hundred of Car- 
vajal's horse, who were going to encounter a hundred 
of Avalos' lancers, in the review ground near the 
cemetery. Both sides met, eyed each other at a 
distance, and returned to their quarters, each glorying 
in the others not having dared to attack. The 
siege continued twelve days. Besides the firing, the 
only event was the burning of some houses, which was 
attributed to the Americans. The accusation seemed 
not without foundation, for they several times threat- 
ened to set fire to the town, if they did not take it ; and 
as the Mexicans endeavoured to stop the flames and 
save the property, they were treated to a warm fusilade, 
which wounded some of their number. The flames 
threw a lurid glare to a considerable distance. This 
night too, was to me a restless one, for I had the task of 
re-assuring several afflicted families, who had abandoned 
their homes at Matamoros to take refuge in Brownsville, 
and had come to me to unfold their fears and sorrows, 



CANALES THE GUERILLA CHIEF. 



335 



which, among other things, the explosion of some 
barrels of gunpowder might well justify. 

Carvajal withdrew at the tidings that Canales was 
coming to the relief of Matamoros at the head of a 
force of a thousand men. Canales had been the chief 
of a band of ruffians in the war of 1846-47, and was 
accused of having sometimes fought against and some- 
times imitated the guerilleros in his indiscriminate plun- 
der of American and Mexican convoys, at the head of 
his band of robbers and assassins. He had, they say, a 
daughter, who managed the lance with expertness, and 
commanded some expeditions. At the time of the 
treaty with Guadalupe Hidalgo, a price had been put 
upon his head by the Mexican government ; but he 
succeeded in vindicating himself — nay, in obtaining the 
rank of Mexican general in active service. For personal 
reasons he detested alike Carvajal and Avalos. He would 
have wished to have found the latter put to the rout, 
and he put the former ; so that he came quite leisurely, 
in order to give full time to Avalos to be beaten, but 
finding him victor, he got into right bad humour. 

The Mexican government honoured the town of 
Matamoros with the title of " heroic town," as a 
reward for its brave defence. The people of Browns- 
ville arrived in crowds to view the ravages of the 
war and fire. 

Carvajal had withdrawn to Eio Grande city, and 
wished to re-enter Mexico ; but, to avenge his defeat, 
he organized a new expedition. Canales was sent to 
Camargo to encounter him, and they met on the Cam- 
argo road, where Canales' men riddled those of Carvajal 
from behind the brushwood. Then Colonel Nunez, 
who commanded the Mexican portion of the latter, ex- 



336 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



claimed, " We are betrayed — sauve qui peut" It is 
thought that he himself was the traitor. Twenty-four of 
the Mexicans escaped to Rio Grande city. The Ameri- 
cans gave battle in the brushwood, and the firing con- 
tinued during the night, without many casualties. On 
both sides the men posted themselves behind the trees 
for greater security. If the men escaped, the trees were 
the sufferers. Carvajal, seeing that his force was not 
strong enough to succeed, retraced his steps to Texas, 
which was only a gunshot from the battle-ground, and 
Can ales, fearing a surprise, retired to the other side of the 
San Juan, which flows near Camargo to the north. A spy 
gave Carvajal intelligence of this retrograde movement, 
and he returned towards Camargo, with the view of 
entering the place before daylight ; but at the same time 
the inhabitants informed Canales that Carvajal had 
retired into Texas ; and the former, emboldened by this 
unlooked-for event, also turned his steps towards Cam- 
argo, where both armies found themselves face to face 
by their very efforts to escape each other. The conflict 
was comparatively bloody on this occasion. Carvajal, 
Johnson, and a third general, whose name I do not re- 
member, were seen to charge in person, and to fire the 
one cannon which made up their entire artiller} 7 . His 
ammunition falling short, Carvajal was forced to retreat ; 
and Canales proclaimed that his own retreat had been a 
strategetical movement. Thus did the war terminate. 

The prisoners taken by the troops of Avalos were 
regarded rather as rebels and assassins than as prisoners 
of war ; consequently, they were condemned to be shot 
a few months afterwards. Avalos, who had not yet 
recovered from his wounds, was furious against the 
Americans, and wished to give them a lesson for the 



THE CONDEMNED CELL. 



337 



future. The execution was to take place three days 
after the sentence was passed, and I was charged by the 
Mexican general with their spiritual interests, and to 
prepare them for death. They were kept under guard 
in a room of the Lancers' barracks, which had been 
changed into a chapel. This barrack, which served 
also as a prison, was a large, square, brick building, in 
the midst of which was a court-yard, in which the 
prisoners walked while waiting execution. The en- 
trance was by a large carriage-gate, opening into a 
corridor, at the end of which was the court-yard. The 
corridor was formed of two chambers, one serving for 
a gate, the other as a dormitory for the officers of the 
guard. 

I entered, not without emotion, while the soldiers pre- 
sented arms, and an officer led me to the chapel, of 
which the doors had been removed. At the sight of my 
French clerical costume the convicted flung themselves 
into my arms, with affecting demonstrations of sorrow 
and gratitude. A young Irishman, only twenty-two, 
hung on my neck, sobbing and crying, " Mother, 
sister dear, I shall never see you more." Both Catholics 
and Protestants shook hands with me, and thanked me 
fervently for having come to see them at that critical 
moment. Their despair wrung my heart, and instead of 
giving them consolation I began to join in their tears — ■ 
and my tears were a consolation. Inwardly I prayed 
of God fervently to grant me the courage and strength 
necessary to discharge my duty. 

It was only after violent efforts that I mastered my 
emotion, and begged of them to pacify their conscience 
before appearing in presence of the Eternal Judge. 
The American prisoners were not at all resigned ; they 

z 



338 TEXAS AND MEXICO. 

said that they had been kept in cruel suspense, and 
that the sentence was unjust. I recalled to their minds 
the conflagrations and murders of which they were the 
perpetrators,' in an unoffending town, having only 
plunder in view; and that now it only remained for them 
to invoke the Divine mercy. I gave them some devo- 
tional books, and some tobacco, and promised to appeal 
for a commutation of punishment, telling them, at the 
same time, not to indulge in vain, sanguine hopes. They 
told me thev had often written to their consul to inter- 
fere in their behalf, but that they had received no reply. 

I waited on the English and French Consuls, who in- 
terfered in consequence with General Avalos, and I called 
upon him myself. He is a small, fat, rather olive-com- 
plexioned person. His black beard, and quick, sinister 
eyes, gave him a ferocious look. His father was a 
Mexican, his mother an Indian. The savage blood 
could be seen in the man. With polished, affable, 
and accomplished manners, he was stern, false, and 
vindictive. As he remained deaf to my prayers, I 
thought fit to remind him of a fact which I had on good 
authority, and which closely concerned him. 

" I am going," said I, "to tell you a piece of history. 
A Mexican town had been attacked by a band of adven- 
turers. At the outset of the combat the general of 
defence was wounded in the great square. He was 
taken to his own house ; but, fearing that if the ad- 
venturers succeeded they might take and hang him, he 
got himself clandestinely conveyed, during the night, to 
a distant hut, leaving his troops to their own guidance. 
A cure of my acquaintance was aware of the fact. He 
might have revealed to the besiegers the hiding-place 
of the courageous general, and there was an end to the 



A GENTLE REMINDER. 



339 



war. But as there was at stake, not merely the life, 
but the honour too, of the general, the cure kept his 
secret. If you do not prove yourself to-day as generous 
as he did, to-morrow he shall publish this story in the 
journals, adding the names which I have not mentioned." 

Avalos grew pale — his eyes flashed lurid lightning. 
Had it been in his power to plunge a dagger into my 
heart he would have done so without scruple ; but as 
I trembled not, he thought me armed, and answered — 

" Yery good ! the execution shall be deferred until 
I receive orders from Mexico." 

This was all I wanted, for I knew there was a 
Spanish law, not repealed, in virtue of which, one 
condemned to death, who should leave the chapel for 
any reason whatsoever, could not be reinstated there, 
that is, his life was saved, for none were ever executed 
who had not passed three days previously in the chapel. 

When I brought back this news to the prisoners 
they embraced me with transports, and the hope of 
life so lit up again within them that I felt alarmed. I 
did not feel sure of success ; and I drew up in a hurry, 
with the aid of the cure of Matamoros, a petition, that 
went round among the ladies of the town, begging of 
General Arista, president of the republic, the life of 
the prisoners. It was not, in reality, good policy to 
put them to death, for their execution would be looked 
upon, on both sides, as an act of vengeance and a 
political assassination. It was even an imprudence, as 
by embittering the minds of Avalos' enemies, it might 
cost him his life. 

To save the lives of these wretches, and calm public 
feeling, I wished to profit by the delay, to organise a 

z 2 



340 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



plan of escape. With some money this project could be 
accomplished, as I had only to make a hole in the prison 
wall, which was of brick, and hardly more than a foot 
in thickness. Besides, the building was solitary, and 
not strongly guarded, and the prisoners might, in a 
quarter of an hour, cross to the left bank of the river. 
But I was not seconded in due time. Among the 
countrymen of the Americans I only met with inertness, 
imbecility, and stupid threats against Avalos. 

During these transactions, Colonel Nunez, accused by 
the Americans of having caused the loss of the battle of 
Camargo, was obliged, in order to save his life, to beg of 
Avalos to put him in a place of safety, that is, in prison. 
He came then, under pretence of important business, to 
be a prisoner at Matamoros. Avalos, who did not 
relish him much, was not satisfied with his arrest only, 
but submitted him to a court-martial, and had him con- 
demned to death. Nunez found his protector had gone 
too far, and, fearing that the sentence might be put 
in execution, he fled, and took refuge in Brownsville, 
where his condemnation by the Mexicans restored him 
to confidence. This escape of Nunez, who had been 
in the same prison with the others, stripped me of all 
hope of rescuing them, for it had the effect of render- 
ing the surveillance more close, and the precautions 
more effectual. 

At length an order came from Mexico to shoot the 
prisoners. This was on Saturday, and the execution was 
fixed for Monday. This order threw us into consterna- 
tion ; for we had been satisfied that Avalos, holding as he 
did his military commission from the President Arista, 
would not venture on any attempt at corruption or un- 
due influence, either to please the president or satisfy his 



ACCURACY OF THE PRESS. 



341 



own feelings of personal revenge. I had failed in saving 
the lives of these unfortunates. It only remained for 
me, with the aid of Don Eaphael, a Mexican priest, to 
acquit myself of the awful mission of assisting them at 
the last hour. Their prison chamber was again changed 
into a chapel. An altar was made out of a long table. 
The report spread abroad, and the New Orleans papers 
repeated it, that I had bored a hole in the wall, by hiding 
myself in the altar, for the purpose of promoting the 
escape of the prisoners.* 

* It is curious at times to see how facts are distorted by newspaper 
correspondents. The Daily Delta, of New Orleans, in its issue of 
22nd June, 1852, thus describes the circumstances that accompanied 
this execution : — 

" I am now going to tell you of a murder, one of the most revolting 
that has been committed since the days of the Inquisition. You re- 
member that in last October, about eight months ago, General Carvajal 
attacked Matamoros, and that the attack lasted eleven hours, &c. &c. 
In his retreat he was vigorously pursued by the enemy for two hours, 
and four of our men, who separated from the main body, were taken 
and cast into prison. They had been subjected to all kinds of hard- 
ships and barbarous treatment up to yesterday morning, when they 
were brutally put to death by order of G-eneral Avalos. 

" I have to laud the conduct of some of the people of Brownsville 
on this occasion: — the Catholic priest, the Lieut.-Colonel l , the 
Spanish Consul, Nosmand 2 , and several other determined foes of 
Carvajal, seconded by the ladies of Matamoros, who pleaded the cause 
of the prisoners before the bloodhounds, so far as to obtain for them 



1 I do not remember that the Lieut.-Colonel had aught to do in 
this business. 

2 The Spanish Consul was dead, and his secretary had no influence. 
The English Consul, however, entered with entire devotion into their 
cause. He left at my disposal 2000 doubloons (6400/.) to aid me in the 
enterprise. These consuls were not at Brownsville, but at Mata- 
moros. 

z 3 



342 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



I had intended it, but could not accomplish my design. 
The hangings of the altar were constantly raised up. I 
was between two sentinels; and two companies of lancers, 
blunderbuss in hand, stood guard, one opposite the door, 
the other behind the wall, against which rested the 
altar. I confined myself to my sad and solemn duties. 

The following morning being Sunday, the holy 
Viaticum was taken to the Catholic prisoners. The 
streets were strewn with flowers and branches — flags 
floated from the windows, garlands of stuff and silk 
handkerchiefs hung from the houses along which the 
Holy Sacrament was to pass. The cortege left the 
church, preceded by a military band playing a dead 
march, and the people followed praying aloud. From 
the depths of the prison I heard the plaintive sounds of 
the music and the murmuring prayers of the multitude. 
My heart sank ; I felt weak. The prisoners knelt by my 

a promise of escape. General Avalos was to withdraw the guard, 
under one pretext or other, during the night, and to give the priest 
time to bore a hole in the prison wall, through which the prisoners 
might escape. The priest, God love him, performed his task with a 
crowbar. A little before daylight, the work being finished, after his 
labouring at it all night, he passed into the outer court, the prisoners 
behind him, full of the hope of again seeing their dear parents and 
friends. They found a guard of fifty soldiers, instead of ten (the 
usual number), outside, who forced them again into their prison. 
The priest then called on Avalos, but was refused admittance. The 
poor fellows were taken out at five o'clock in the morning, and shot 
down before 300 soldiers. The sentence specified eight o clock. They 
have been thus deprived of the last three hours of their life, which 
doubtless they were anxious to consecrate to God. Such facts and 
murders have raised a universal shout of disgust in this town. . 

General Avalos was burned in effigy yesterday. 

" P. S. The prisoners were denied the last rites of religion — 
extreme unction. The priest's name is Abbe Donienech." 



TENDER OFFICIAL SOLICITUDE. 



343 



side, wept and prayed along with me. Well might they 
indeed. They were so young ! and grief for the loss of 
life, an absent cherished family, which they were never 
again to see. Nature has her exigencies, to which the 
strongest will must yield. Poor fellows ! seeing my 
emotion and my sympathy, they felt less lonely, they 
drew from me some strength to support their misfortune 
and think of God. 

Don Raphael entered carrying the Blessed Sacrament. 
They flung themselves before him, and laid hold of the 
pyxis, imploring the Divine grace in a heart-rending 
tone, and that they should enjoy the privilege of 
" asylum," recognised by the law of the land. They 
were calmed with difficulty. The prayers for those in 
the agony were recited, and the Catholics received the 
Holy Communion. In half an hour afterwards, took 
place the collation of the dead. It is the custom that 
the priest share in this last meal of the condemned 
prisoner. I could not sum up courage to eat ; but from 
courtesy and pity, I took some chocolate. Scenes of 
this kind do their work in the heart of a priest ; and if 
it be not made of brass, the three days that he thus 
spends with condemned criminals are days of moral tor- 
ture that leave behind traces not to be effaced. 

In the evening the American prisoners received the 
tardy visit of their consul, of their minister, and of a 
doctor. These gentlemen brought with them coarse 
linen garments, that their countrymen might be decently 
clad for the ceremony of execution ; and they returned 
home, after smoking cigars for an hour with the unfor- 
tunate prisoners. I could not refrain from contrasting 
this kind of philanthropic consolation with Christian 
charity. What an abyss divides them! I spent the 

z 4 



344 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



night in the prison with the criminals. I spoke to them 
of heaven, of the clemency and mercy of God, for they 
were greatly downcast. Some of them rolling about 
their haggard eyes, murmured some unconnected sounds ; 
others continued dumb, their eyes fixed on the earth. 
From time to time one of the youngest allowed a heavy 
heaving moan to escape him, sometimes a cry of agony, 
while he wrung his hands. About two o'clock a.m., 
overcome with mental fatigue, they manifested a wish 
to sleep a little. I arranged my own garments in the 
shape of a cushion, on which they laid their heads. 
While they slept, I went out to breathe a little fresh air 
in the prison court where a Mexican officer, seeing me 
in my shirt sleeves, lent me a covering, lest I might 
catch cold. 

The execution was fixed for seven o'clock. At day- 
light, I went to the church to say mass for the doomed 
criminals ; but it being closed, I had to go to the priest's 
house to get the keys. There I was informed that the 
fatal hour had been anticipated. I returned in hot haste 
to the prison ; but was late. The condemned had left, 
accompanied by a dozen other prisoners, detained on 
the same charge, but not as yet sentenced. The place of 
execution was an untilled field, about five or six hun- 
dred yards from the prison. The wretches were fixed to 
a kind of bench ; but the handkerchiefs to blind them had 
been forgotten. The unsentenced prisoners did them the 
charity of supplying the want. One of them, whose arm 
had been fractured by a ball, tore off the bandaging and 
gave it to the young Irishman, who had specially in- 
terested me. With a cruelty unheard of, the un con- 
demned had been placed behind the others, and thus 
believing that they were about to be shot without trial 



* 



A MOURNFUL EUNERAL. 345 

or judgment, they gave themselves up to the most violent 
despair. Two of them fainted. Eight soldiers were 
drawn up in two files before each criminal, and a battalion 
of infantry assisted at the execution. 

When I saw that the prisoners had been already 
taken away, I ran to the place of punishment to rejoin 
them, to give them another word of consolation. But 
as I drew near, I heard a horrid discharge ; then a 
second. They were no more. 

I learned that a Mexican and a Scotchman received 
the first discharge while they continued to pray, and 
without blenching. The second was to put an end to 
them. The bodies were placed on a dung-cart, and 
conveyed to the cemetery. Slow and on foot, under the 
pelting rain, I walked behind the cart, from which the 
bloo4 trickled down, recommending the victims to the 
mercy of God. The cemetery was two miles distant, 
and the way was slippery and swampy. When I ar- 
rived, from emotion and fatigue I could not stand. 
There were neither coffins nor graves to receive the 
dead. The Americans having got me to promise that 
I should have their remains conveyed to Brownsville, I 
waited on General Avalos to make the request, but 
could not gain admittance. Either from fear or some 
other reason, his door was closed this entire day to all 
but his officers. I returned to Brownsville in a sad 
condition, physically and mentally. These three days 
had preyed more on me than a year of missionary 
labour. 

On my return to Brownsville, a crowd of people came 
to inquire about the entire transaction. Their curiosity 
vexed me. 

" What have you been doing these six months," said 



316 TEXAS AND MEXICO. 

I to the Americans, " to save the prisoners ? Your 
conduct has been that of men without heart or energy. 
You have not even sought to procure them some al- 
leviation during their long and painful imprisonment. 
Though many among them were Protestants and Ame- 
ricans, it was a Catholic priest who made an effort to 
save them, who went to see them, to console them and 
to sweeten their lot." 

I was heard in silence, and it was admitted that in 
this melancholy drama, there was but one humane and 
honourable part which no one had ventured to under- 
take, and which I alone, on my part, had filled with 
constancy, self-denial, hardships, dangers, and priva- 
tions. Thus, from this day forward, I acquired great 
popularity along the frontiers, and had no more dis- 
agreement with any one. 



347 



CHAP. VIII. 

A MASQUERADE. — REVENGE OF AVALOS. — COMICAL HEROES. CON- 
SOLATIONS. — CHRISTMAS. HOLY WEEK. — CAPTAIN MOSES. — 

TOILETTE OF THE RANCHERO. — MOUTH OF THE RIO GRANDE. 

NOCTURNAL REVERIE AT THE SEA-SIDE. BAGDAD. WALK TO 

BRAZOS SANTIAGO. — NUESTRA SENORA DE GUADALUPE. — PROJECT. 

REMARKS ON MEXICO ; AND THE INVASIONS OF THE YANKEES. 

— ADIEUS. DEPARTURE. SOUVENIRS. 

Shortly after this execution, the Americans wished to 
be avenged on Avalos, and hanged him in effigy, as 
well as Manchaca, his counsellor of war. The scaffold 
had been raised on the bank opposite Matamoros ; and 
two effigies had been paraded for three days on asses, 
followed by an impromptu masquerade, with a frightful 
uproar, and on the third they were hoisted on the 
gibbet, amidst boisterous acclamations. The people 
imagined they were offering a grand sacrifice to the 
shades of their countrymen. 

General Avalos could see from his own house his 
effigy, swinging with the breeze. He did see it, and 
felt it, and soon made his anger felt also. A band of 
Indians, from the Mexican side, committed shocking 
ravages all at once along the Texian banks of the Rio 
Grande, from Santa Rita to Galveston. The steamship 
" Comanche " was repeatedly attacked by these savages 
during its passage up to Rio Grande city ; and each suc- 
ceeding day brought new tidings of murders committed 



348 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



by them. As I was attending a sick person near 
Galveston, four Americans fell by the arrows of the 
Indians, near the hut where I was. 

This last outrage roused the Americans to teach a 
lesson to the Indians who had taken up their quar- 
ters twenty-five miles from Matamoros, on the banks 
of the Rio Grande. Forty "good men and true" 
were brought together and marched against the enemy. 
They were commanded by a Yankee of Herculean 
strength, but of questionable valour. The little troop 
set out with as much hubbub as if they were going 
to the conquest of the world ; and though the question 
was, who should accomplish the most daring feats, 
at the first encounter, the forty volunteers took to 
their heels. The expedition returned to Brownsville 
without sound of drum or trumpet, and it was well 
known by this time what hand guided the Indians. 
The American authorities addressed sharp remonstrances 
and ominous threats to Avalos, who had to despatch a 
force against the Indians, and they yielded without 
striking a blow, allowing themselves to be taken to 
Matamoros, where they got a field near the town, in 
which they quietly installed themselves. 

They were the mildest creatures in the world, at least 
in their new abode. They were of great stature, 
and yellow copper-colour. Each family was differ- 
ently tattooed, and the men's entire dress was a towel. 
The women were better provided for. I saw their 
children, eight or ten years of age, send an arrow 
through an apple at a distance of fifty paces, while some 
hit small coins at that distance. They sat the livelong 
day fishing on the banks of the river ; and at a certain 
motion of the water, they became aware of the presence 



*. 



CONSOLATIONS. 



349 



of fish, invisible to civilised eyes. Off darted an arrow, 
and in a moment there mounted to the surface, a fish 
pierced right through. In the course of a few months, 
they were allowed to return to their solitudes; and 
thenceforth no more was heard of them. 

After so many trials some holy consolations were 
reserved for me. Every day I saw scattered sheep 
coming to the tribunal of penance, such as had not 
approached the sacraments for several years. More 
than a hundred couples, who had lived in concubinage, 
begged the blessing of the Church on their marriage. 
On Sundays my church was filled with fervent ran- 
ch eros, who had come, in spite of the inclemency of the 
season, even ten miles on foot to assist at the sacred 
offices. The soldiers of the garrison came sometimes, 
the band leading, to add eclat to our ceremonies. I 
bought at Mexico an organ, which I set up in the 
church to increase the solemnity of the ceremonies, and 
to direct the voices of our young choristers. At 
first I felt great disappointment on learning, that 
Brownsville had only one organist, who was engaged 
by the Episcopalians. Fortunately, I was on good 
terms with the Episcopalian minister, a young man of 
education and liberal views, and no bigot against Ca- 
tholicism. He had even been on the point of becoming 
a Catholic, and was only prevented by his bishop, who 
himself some time after abjured Protestantism. He felt 
for my embarrassment, and as my services and his took 
place at the same time, he proposed that I should anti- 
cipate the time by an hour, and that he would post- 
pone his by another. Thus the organist could perform 
successively in the church and the chapel. By this 
I had the benefit of seeing my auditory increasing by 



350 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the presence of Protestants and even of Jews. The Epis- 
copalians came repeatedly to listen to my sermons ; 
and I did my utmost to remove, by my preaching, the 
blind prejudices which the Americans entertain against 
Catholic missionaries. My words bore some fruit ; and 
my conduct in the war of Carvajal facilitated not a 
little my efforts. 

I observed that when I began to preach, several 
Frenchmen and young Creoles, having no great love 
for sermons, left the church, and went to walk in my 
garden, where they amused themselves with making 
bouquets of my choicest flowers. For some time I 
sought an expedient which, without wounding the lively 
sensibilities of these gentlemen, would oblige them to 
remain in the church and to respect my flowers. I 
found a very simple means of arriving at my end, 
without betraying my intentions. In the menagerie 
which I got up by degrees, was a fine-looking wild 
boar, which I had trained up as a watch-dog. On 
going to say High Mass, I let him loose in the garden. 
At the sight of this new warder, the marauders made off 
with all possible speed, and returned to the church 
patiently to hear the sermon. 

Christmas-day arrived, with its rejoicings for the peo- 
ple and its sorrows for me ; for we may recollect it was 
my birthday. The memories of the past — of family and 
country — came fresh upon my mind, wrapt in an unde- 
fined melancholy. During the midnight mass, I had 
a moment's happiness in seeing a crowd of every age, 
sex, and creed, take possession of the house of God, 
which was at this moment in all its splendour. The 
draperies, the flowers, the lights, supplied in profusion, 
were in sweet harmony with French taste, become 



HOLY WEEK. 



351 



proverbial with strangers. The mass was sung by 
fourteen of my countrymen, who had very sweet voices. 
The chasuble which I wore, was the gift of a Mexican. 
It was gold brocade embroidered with gold and silk ; 
and though more than a hundred years old, it re- 
flected rays of light in all directions. Upwards of 300 
who could find no room in the church had to hear 
mass in the open air. Fireworks, sent off by the officers 
of the garrison, terminated this feast, which had never 
before been celebrated with so much solemnity on the 
frontiers of Texas. 

Holy week caused me unheard-of fatigues. Besides 
my ordinary duties, I had to hear numbers of con- 
fessions, to decorate the church, to explain the cere- 
monies in two languages, to sing by myself the entire 
offices, which are very long. 

After the offices, I went on Holy Thursday to 
visit the church of Matamoros. I had to go this 
journey on foot, for during the last three days of Holy 
Week, vehicles do not run in the town. The choir of 
the church had been metamorphosed into a mountain 
of verdure, on the top of which reposed the most Blessed 
Sacrament. On this mountain grew natural trees ; 
grottas were formed of moss and fern, in which were 
concealed shepherds, who, with their willow flutes, 
imitated the wailings of the women of Jerusalem, 
weeping for the death of the Redeemer of the World. 
The sweet plaintive notes of these instruments infused 
a melancholy feeling into the soul. You could not 
hear them without profound emotion. 

Easter Sunday was one of the happiest days of my life. 
A crowd of Catholics approached the sacred table, — 
(how many among them had kept away from it for years !) 



352 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



—and received the Holy Communion with meditation 
and fervour. God abundantly recompensed me for my 
labours; and with profound emotion, I gave vent to tears, 
while preaching on the benefits of the religion of the Son 
of God. My parishioners, affected, for the most part, by 
my emotion, also wept. We felt the full force of the 
words of Our Lord, — " My yoke is pleasant and my 
burthen is light." 

A J ew, a retired captain of a steam-boat, who used to 
attend regularly at our offices, and was greatly attached 
to me, shed abundant tears. His name was Moses, — one 
of the ugliest men breathing, but not the less kind- 
hearted for that. His face was red, wrinkled, and fright- 
fully pitted with small-pox. His enlarged features had 
neither regularity nor symmetry. My dear friend, 
the captain, was a phenomenon of ugliness in his normal 
state ; but his grimace while weeping made him some- 
thing frightful. I confess this grimace made a certain 
impression on me and rendered my discourse less im- 
pressive. Meanwhile a ranchero, who felt it no doubt 
rather warm, coolly took off his shirt in the church ; but 
in an instant the sun darted his burning rays on his 
naked shoulders and the ranchero threw his shirt over 
them and tied the sleeves across his breast. Doubtless 
this toilette produced on my auditory an impression ana- 
logous to that which the grimace of Captain Moses had 
produced on myself. It was that of cold water thrown 
on fire ; for at the end of my sermon the tears were all 
dried. 

After the Easter holy days, I went to visit the por- 
tion of my mission which I had hitherto but imperfectly 
known. As it was but thinly inhabited, this visit was 
to be only a kind of vacation. Captain Moses offered 



CAPTAIN MOSES. 



353 



me hospitality in a house which he had at the mouth of 
the Kio Grande, and I accepted the offer. We set off 
together in the steamboat that plied between Browns- 
ville and Brazos. 

The distance, by water, from Brownsville to the 
mouth of the river is about eighty miles, but as the crow 
flies, only thirty. You would imagine that the Rio 
Grande, no less than the savage, regrets leaving this 
valley, at once so wild and beautiful. It hesitates, and 
makes a thousand windings before losing its identity in 
the depths of the sea. The banks are less picturesque 
than to the north of Brownsville, being flatter and 
more wooded, indicating the proximity of the sea. 
According as the gulf is neared, the land becomes arid, 
sandy, or marshy, trees more rare. The Spaniards of 
the sixteenth century well designated this coast by 
calling it Costa Deserta. It is a veritable desert. Some 
tufted sand-banks meet midway, and two or three 
ranchos are the only things that break the monotony of 
the road. A little before sunset, we arrived at a village 
at the mouth of the river. The dying fire of the day- 
star flung into space rays of reddish hue which were 
reflected by the sea, which seemed like a lake of blood. 

The Captain's house was an old entrepot of munitions of 
war, abandoned since the time of the American invasion. 
The building, which was large, and of wood, was then 
occupied by a quantity of rusty old iron, the remnants 
of wrecked vessels, either sold or abandoned. A bed, 
capable of accommodating four or five, was in the midst 
of broken anchors, severed chains, gaping lanterns, and 
other instruments of like nature. The Captain, with 
wonderful sang froid, honoured me with his apartment. 
The bed being between five doors and two windows, I 

A A 



354 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



could not want air ; but, for sleeping, I had calculated 
without the musquitoes, which are more numerous 
here than in Galveston. 

Not being able to close an eye the whole night, I got 
up, and went to take a walk by the sea-side, to which 
the silver moonlight pointed out my path ; I climbed the 
white sand -banks that skirt the coast, and took my seat 
on the debris of a wreck, washed ashore by the waves. 
I contemplated, with mixed pleasure and sadness, the 
extent of this calm, fair sea, wrapt in the silver rays of 
the moon. The waves died away on the shore with a 
regular, monotonous sound. Some light, grey clouds 
hovered in the firmament, and the cry of the night-birds 
mingled with the murmurs of the waves, while a light 
breeze refreshed the tepid atmosphere of this solitude. 

At the sight of this spectacle, so grand, so poetic in 
its simple beauty, and of which I happened to be the only 
observer, I felt, in a manner, inspired. I turned my 
eyes towards France, from which a space of nine 
thousand miles separated me. I thought, that if death 
did not overtake me in the midst of my missionary 
duties, how I should soon be obliged to drag along, in my 
own country, a debilitated frame, a mutilated existence, 
henceforth without use or aim. For the second time 
my strength had brought me to the moment of gather- 
ing the fruit of my labours. For the second time my 
frail skiff was shattered on the rock of sufferings, at 
the moment of entering port. The "Sic vos non vobis" 
of Virgil then recurred to memory. Cruel thought, 
which darted across my mind like a temptation of the 
evil one. I called to mind the words of St. Paul, 
" What have you that you have not received ? And if 
you have received, of what do you glory ? " With reason 



NOCTURNAL REVERIE. 



355 



could I repeat, at this moment, the words of the gospel, 
" I am a useless servant." And I was so young ; my 
short career had been so eventful, I had lived long in a 
short time. One consolation remained to me ; it was, 
that I had never looked on the past with regret ; and 1 
hoped that God would take into account the days I had 
spent, my labours, my hardships, and sacrifices. With 
a mistaken zeal, perhaps, for the glory of God and the 
salvation of my neighbour, I had, without doubt, been 
imprudent, and thus hastened the ruin of my health. 
But, can man be always a sure judge in his own cause ? 
I might have often deceived myself ; but, having acted 
only from the best intentions, I had some ground to 
trust to the mercy and goodness of God. 

Full of these sweet thoughts, that battled with the 
sadness of my soul, I at last fell asleep on the sea-weed 
upon the strand, beneath the starry heavens, and 
lulled asleep, as it w^ere, by the monotone of the waves 
breaking on the lee-shore. 

I devoted the next day to visiting the occupants 
of this wretched village, composed mostly of little, 
wooden houses, extremely low, and built up against the 
sand-banks. I found here two Irish families, with 
whom I passed two long hours, chatting about green 
Erin, their dear, native land, with its poetic memories, 
the privileged land of fairies, ghosts, ballads, and 
legends. 

In the evening, the few families come down to en- 
joy a bath in the tepid waters of the gulf. I went 
with my esteemed Captain, who never left me. I then 
passed over to the other side of the river, and set foot 
on Mexican soil, to visit Bagdad, another village, situ- 
ated near the mouth of the Rio Grande. This wretched 



356 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



place bore no resemblance to the oriental town, once 
the abode of Harnn-al-Rashid. Some reed huts, 
plastered with mud and oyster shells, gave shelter to 
a dozen Mexican families, whose existence was a pro- 
blem to me, for, to a distance of twenty miles all round, 
there seems no trace of cultivation. Sometimes there 
arrives at Bagdad a sloop from Tampico, loaded with 
bananas, ananas, cocoa nuts, and lemons. These fruits 
are immediately exported to Matamoros and Browns- 
ville, where they find a good market. Near my Cap- 
tain's house I observed large, wooden edifices, half in 
ruins, inhabited by Americans, who spent their exist- 
ence in fishing and hunting. In the evenings, before 
sunset, they meet to smoke, to read the papers aloud, 
and to discuss politics. Eccentricity and feelings of 
independence must be pushed far enough to make 
people live thus in deserts, without name or shade, 
and spend in solitude and inaction a life without 
aim. 

Brazos Santiago not being more than four miles 
from the mouth of the Kio Grande, I went there on foot 
with the Captain. We followed the beach. The strand 
was strewn over with a triple row of wrecks, for 
the most part half buried in the sand. As we walked 
along, we discovered an enormous quantity of table 
glass, five barrels of old brandy, which had been there 
for many years, and three hogsheads of rum, bearing 
date 1825. We then crossed a narrow channel, only 
two feet deep, which took us to the island in which 
Brazos is situated. On entering the island, I met an 
Irish family that lived on the produce of oyster fishing. 
The oyster banks, which are very numerous on the 
Texian coast, are almost at the water's edge, which ren- 



BRAZOS SANTIAGO. 



357 



ders the fishing easy. I observed, near the Irish cabin, 
hens picking the open oysters — they lived upon them. 
There was also a horse, but I dared not ask what pro- 
vender they gave him : I feared they might answer 
" Oysters." 

At Brazos I baptized a child ; but having little to do, 
I returned the same evening to the mouth of the Kio 
Grande. To pass the time, the Captain and myself 
chanted the litany of the blessed Virgin. The Captain 
loved music much, and especially the litany ; and when 
we were alone, he often said to me, " Let us sing the Ora 
pro nobis ; it is so pretty." What a duet — an invalid 
priest and a Jew chanting the praises of Mary ! 

After a rest of eight days in these parts, I returned 
to Brownsville by land. The route over upwards of 
fifteen miles, passes through vast swampy plains, covered 
with jungle. Midway, I saw a neat rancho, situated on 
a small elevation, and shaded with beautiful green oaks. 
I stayed a short time, to drink some milk, and to know if 
the rancheros had need of my ministry. I then entered 
rich pastures, in which large flocks of sheep roamed 
and bleated at pleasure. 

Eeturned to Brownsville, I was obliged to desist 
from my extensive missions, and to confine my visits 
to the sick. I seldom preached, not even on Sundays. 
I had seen the last of my strength. Every sermon cost 
me oceans of blood, issuing from my shattered lungs. 
My nervous, spasmodic fits had become so frequent, 
that I was also forced to abstain from celebrating the holy 
sacrifice during the week. 

About the middle of the year, we celebrated at Santa 
Rita the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe, the pa- 
tron saint of the Mexicans. The principal proprietor at 

A A 3 



358 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Santa Rita, intending to go to live at Bahia, wished, for 
the last time, to impart to this feast all possible solemnity. 
For this end he invited singers and several others from 
Brownsville. On the eve of the feast, about twenty-five 
of us went on horseback, conducted by this rich ran- 
chero, who started off at a gallop, all following through 
clouds of dust, raised by the horses' hoofs. 

On our arrival at Santa Rita, we found seven or eight 
hundred rancheros, assembled from the surrounding 
country. As this crowd could find no cabins to sleep 
in, it divided itself into groups, which encamped in the 
gardens, in the court-yards, and even in the streets and 
squares of the rancho. There was a large square in 
the centre of the rancho. The chapel, situated to the 
north of the place, and made with stakes, sunk in the 
earth, and potter's clay, had a thatched roof. The 
belfry, which was completely separated from the body 
of the church, was of the shape of a gibbet and mounted 
two old Mexican clocks. 

Shortly after nightfall, we repaired to the chapel. 
The litany of the blessed Virgin was sung in chorus, as 
also vespers, and then we formed a procession by 
torch-light. Young girls in white bore on a pole, 
ornamented with streamers, flowers, and draperies, an 
image of the patroness of the Mexicans. They were 
followed by musicians playing the violin and mando- 
line, while I walked alone after them, and the people 
followed close behind. All bore lighted torches or 
lanterns in their hands, and recited the rosary aloud. 
As we passed in front of a cabin, the procession was 
saluted by the discharge of a gun, a rocket, or musket. 

I rarely witnessed a more interesting spectacle. These 
white gowns, that portable altar, covered with lights and 



A EIDE AND A HEARTY BREAKFAST. 



359 



flowers, these torches, this singing in the midst of 
silence and darkness, made a deep impression. After 
the ceremony came the amusements. For an hour the 
men assailed one another with harmless rockets, which 
were thrown and exploded amidst bursts of laughter ; 
and as no feast, even religious, terminates without a 
fandango, the dancing saloon was fixed in a spot where 
the grass was shorter and more sparse. Coffee was kept 
boiling in a huge kettle, and distributed gratuitously ; 
and the dance opened. The crowd assembled for the cele- 
bration of the feast being greater than had been expected, 
provisions soon became scarce, and coffee alone remained. 
Experience had taught me what noise is made on such 
occasions ; I therefore went to spend the night beneath a 
fig tree, away from the ball. Next morning I offered 
the holy sacrifice in the chapel, and preached for the 
last time. 

After mass, the greater part of the guests were half 
starved, and loth enough to return home fasting. I 
was of the number, and therefore proposed to go and 
have breakfast at the rancho of Dona Stefanita, 
situated three miles from Santa Rita. We set off on 
horseback, to the number of thirty. Dona Stefanita, 
a small, shrivelled old woman, placed at our disposal, 
with patriarchal generosity, her poultry-yard and her 
provisions. A goat, some hens, and melons supplied us 
with an abundant breakfast. Barring the Irish, I know 
of no people who exercise such cordial hospitality as the 
Mexicans. 

In the month of March, 1852, Matamoros was 
honoured by a visit from a high government func- 
tionary of Mexico, General Don Emanuel Robbies, 
minister of war and of marine. By his valour and skill 

A A 4 



360 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



lie obtained a just celebrity during the siege of Mexico 
by the Americans. He then set about satisfying him- 
self, personally, as to the military requirements of the 
frontiers. Having formed a design for the moral im- 
provement of the people, and knowing the necessity of 
government support for its realisation, I got myself 
introduced to the general by the Mexican consul at 
Brownsville. I told him that I found a large population 
along the banks of the Rio Grande made little account 
of by staticians, and which, being abandoned to itself, 
was losing, gradually, its religion and its nationality. 
The children of the more comfortable classes were sent 
to the United States, to receive an education, some- 
times prejudicial to their religious convictions, always 
to the detriment of their nationality. I offered to go 
to Rome to lay the question before the Cardinal Prefect 
of the Propaganda, and to ask him to divide those 
frontiers into regular, distinct missions, conducted by 
active, zealous priests, and numerous enough to found 
colleges and impart instruction. 

" What will become of Mexico,'' I said, " before these 
Yankee invaders, who have already taken from it Texas, 
New Mexico, and California, if you do not make that 
sentiment which is the firmest bond of patriotism, the 
sentiment of religion, strike deep roots in the Mexican 
heart?" 

In reality, the Mexican question is big with interest, 
for it presents the battle of an infant people that wishes 
to shake off its swathing bands, and to rise from the 
deep rut into which the jealousy of the mother country 
threw it, by reserving to herself extravagant monopolies. 
In spite of the concessions and liberal laws of Charles 
III., in 1778, Mexico has been crippled by the restric- 



PROSPECTS OF MEXICO. 



3G1 



tive commercial system, and the systematic preference 
accorded to Spanish-born merchants. Thus, after its 
declaration of independence, in 1822, the new empire 
had to encounter unheard-of difficulties in its fresh 
political organisation. After the reign of ifurbide, 
which lasted only one year, came the Republic, which 
had to combat at once incapacity and ambition. All 
the chiefs of the work of independence would seize for 
themselves the fruits of victory ; and, instead of uniting 
to commence the work of reform, political and com- 
mercial, they made war on one another, sometimes 
covert, sometimes overt, but which always ended in 
the overthrow of one of the idols of the hour. The 
incapacity and venality of the government, joined to the 
apathy of the governed, have made the history of this 
charming country a series of risings ('pronunciamientos), 
which have often deluged Mexico and the provinces with 
blood. Part of the army obeyed the general who im- 
mediately commanded, and fought against the section 
commanded by another general. The administration 
was always seized upon by the partisans of the presi- 
dent, who frequently saw power snatched from his 
hands by an emeute. The ordinances of government, 
both fiscal and administrative, marked as they were 
with the seal of official incapacity in political economy, 
were but ill-suited to the particular requirements of the 
distant provinces. The president, who forced him- 
self on the country, was generally the officer most 
adroit or daring. These men, while they upheld order 
by force and energy, enacted reforms to meet the mo- 
mentary necessities of the government, but which had 
the effect of impoverishing the provinces, and curbing 
commercial enterprise, under the pretext of developing 



362 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



the internal resources of the country. A lame and false 
pretext, for in paralysing the commerce of the provinces 
the rulers destroyed the means essential to the develop- 
ment of private industry. 

In the old Spanish provinces a general wins his 
epaulettes without much ado ; but in a rising republic the 
sword which rules and maims must give place to mind, 
which organises and directs the general interest. But, 
unfortunately, the Mexican generals were not all en- 
dowed with administrative faculties of this order. 

If Mexico still feels her way to get out of this slough, 
and to go forward in the way of progress and civilisa- 
tion — if she has within her so many disorganising 
elements, how can she resist this colossus, ever astir, 
this neighbour so ambitious and unscrupulous in his 
manner of invasion, which has his foot ever on her neck 
to carry off her fairest provinces ? Empires, like men, 
require the experience of suffering. The experience of 
others rarely profits any one. Mexico, if she means to 
rise to the level of European civilisation, and oppose an 
impassable barrier to the Yankees of the United States, 
must fight and suffer more. But in the end she will 
succeed, for she has the principle of vitality within her, 
great intellects, great passions, and even patriotism. 
For the moment all this seems to slumber, but its 
waking hour is drawing near. Force is not enough 
to swallow up a country. Besides, the United States 
have a hideous sore that consumes them — slavery. In 
discussing those questions of the future, I observed to 
Don Emanuel Robbies — 

" Mexico possesses the fairest and the richest provinces 
in the world, and the Catholic faith is a powerful 
weapon of defence against American aggression. She 



THE SPIRIT WILLING BUT THE FLESH WEAK. 363 

will never be ruled by a Protestant country. The days 
of conflict and trial may return ; then shall bold and 
intelligent minds rise up, made more numerous by 
religious training, which enlarges the intellectual 
powers of each man, gives all serious ideas of their 
duties as Christians and as citizens, makes them feel 
by a more accurate knowledge of the gospel and moral 
precepts all the dignity of their nature, teaches them to 
give God what is due to Him, and Caesar what is due 
to him, that is, to their country." 

Don Emanuel Robbies perfectly understood the bear- 
ing of my project, and the national benefit that would 
be its result. He gave it his approval, and gave me 
letters of recommendation to the Mexican minister, at 
the court of the Holy Father. I communicated my 
views to Don Raphael, who was to accompany me to 
Rome, and who had a letter from General Arista for 
the very same purpose. 

By this time I had no more strength left me. My 
works could no longer keep pace with my will, no 
longer could I pursue my duties. Nervous spasms, 
fainting fits, spitting of blood, forbade the smallest 
fatigue. The priests promised to be sent to my aid 
had not arrived. I went to Galveston to see after them, 
and to inform my ecclesiastical superiors of the absolute 
necessity of my returning to France. I then returned to 
Brownsville, where, for a month longer, a martyr to 
sufferings, I was dragging along an exhausted frame, a 
spent existence, without ever stirring from that town 
that I loved so much, and which, for the space of eighteen 
months, was witness to my energy, ardour, and zeal, 
such as it was, in running about in all directions to 
succour the unfortunate. 



3G4 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



Three priests of the Oblats of Mary were to replace 
me in the month of September. I was resolved to 
depart in the end of that month. My departure was 
sadder this time than when I left Castroville, for a 
return was out of the question. I was like one of those 
worn-out instruments, no longer of use, which are hung 
up in a corner to become gradually the prey of rust. 
Except a place of retreat and a last asylum, of which I 
had none, I resembled those military invalids, whom 
honoured scars have deprived of their means. I felt sad 
— much less indeed from the egotistical thought of a 
wintry future, of a clouded threatening horizon, towards 
which I was about to proceed, than from the deep affec- 
tion I bore these strange people, to whom I had become 
thoroughly accustomed, an affection but too well re- 
turned. I had much difficulty in tearing myself away 
from the families which I was visiting for the last time. 
I felt as if I were one of them. 

In fine, after my last adieu, I threw myself into a coach 
that was starting to Brazos. Among the passengers 
was a creole woman with an infant at her breast ; she 
was going to New Orleans to rejoin her husband. The 
mother and the child, of whom I knew nothing, were 
recommended to me by an American, of whom I knew 
just as much. These recommendations, which would 
look so odd in Europe, are quite matters of course in 
the United States. They are quite honouring — but in 
general strangers have no desire to assume the responsi- 
bility of watching over unknown ladies during a con- 
siderable journey, and especially as they treat you with 
incredible unceremoniousness and freedom. 

Arrived at Brazos I again saw my old friend Captain 
Moses, who had not grown more handsome. He made 



DETENTION BY STORM. 



365 



me a present of several Indian silk handkerchiefs and 
filled my pockets with boiled prawns, as prog for the 
journey. We both wept sincerely in giving the parting 
embrace. This was the last mark of sympathy that I 
was to meet in this strange land. What a singular 
coincidence ! The first was given by an Episcopalian ; 
the last by a Jew. 

A storm detained us eight days in the gulf. On the 
21st of September, at midnight, we struck upon an oyster 
bank, and were for two hours hanging between life and 
death. A ship was wrecked a couple of hundred yards 
or so from us ; and at the mouth of the Mississippi, we 
observed another on fire. I made no stay anywhere 
during my journey. I was unfortunate enough to 
have some fresh recommendations to Paris — recom- 
mendations which occasioned me a world of embarrass- 
ment and annoyance. 

I remained a few days at Lyon in the bosom of my 
family, and then pursued my journey to Eome. My 
project for establishing Mexican missions was approved 
of by the judicious and zealous Secretary of the Propa- 
ganda; but before its accomplishment it should meet 
with the sanction of the Mexican prelacy. I reckoned on 
returning to Mexico to obtain this necessary sanction : 
but alas ! man proposeth, God disposeth. Man's power is 
very limited here below. Bodily infirmities obliged me 
to remain some time in Italy. Medical skill declared 
my active career at an end — at an end, alas ! when the 
greater part of my confreres were hardly commencing 
theirs. 

And now, in the hours of solitude, the recollections of 
the past group themselves in sad array before my 
mind, like pictures always present, spreading over my 



366 



TEXAS AND MEXICO. 



soul a sweet and dreamy melancholy, of which I can- 
not divest it. European life is to me cold, colourless, 
pitiful. My regards, for ever turned towards those old 
solitudes, those deserts peopled with dangers and red 
skins, tawny animals, and rattle snakes, could not rest 
on this narrow horizon, whither my sufferings had 
conducted me. The cloister smiled before me like a 
desert-island, in which I might seek shelter after ship- 
Avreck. Seated on the banks of life's rapid torrent, I see 
before my view these even now distant pages of my 
existence, like so many leaves transported on the wings 
of the wind towards the ocean of eternity. And with a 
tear trembling in the eye, and a sigh quivering on the 
lip, I murmur with my Master — " Lord, let thy will be 
done." 



THE END. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 
NEW-STREET SQUARE. 



